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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/14676-0.txt b/14676-0.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..cd39268 --- /dev/null +++ b/14676-0.txt @@ -0,0 +1,5705 @@ +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 14676 *** + +Note: Project Gutenberg also has an HTML version of this + file which includes the original illustrations. + See 14676-h.htm or 14676-h.zip: + (https://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/1/4/6/7/14676/14676-h/14676-h.htm) + or + (https://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/1/4/6/7/14676/14676-h.zip) + + + + + +WOMEN AND WAR WORK + +by + +HELEN FRASER + +G. Arnold Shaw +New York + +1918 + + + + + + + + "No easy hopes or lies + Shall bring us to our goal, + But iron sacrifice + Of body, will, and soul. + There is but one task for all-- + For each one life to give. + Who stands if freedom fall? + Who dies if England live?" + + Rudyard Kipling in "For All We Have and Are." + + + +[Illustration: A FEW SHELLS] + + + + DEDICATED TO MOTHER, ANNE, AND THE BOYS. + + + + +CONTENTS + + +Chapter + + 1. THE SPIRIT OF WOMEN + + 2. ORGANIZATION AND ITS PITFALLS + + 3. HOSPITALS--RED CROSS--V.A.D. + + 4. BRINGING BLIGHTY TO THE SOLDIERS--HUTS, COMFORTS, ETC. + + 5. WOMAN-POWER FOR MAN-POWER + + 6. WOMEN AND MUNITIONS + + 7. THE PROTECTION OF WOMEN IN INDUSTRY + + 8. "THE WOMEN'S LAND ARMY" + + 9. WAR SAVINGS--THE MONEY BEHIND THE GUNS + + 10. FOOD PRODUCTION AND CONSERVATION + + 11. THE W.A.A.C.'s + + 12. WAR AND MORALS + + 13. WHAT THE WAR HAS DONE FOR WOMEN + + 14. RECONSTRUCTION + + + + +ILLUSTRATIONS + + + A FEW SHELLS (Frontispiece) + + MISS EDITH CAVELL + + DR. ELSIE INGLIS + + FIRST AMBULANCE ON DUTY IN THE FIRST ZEPPELIN RAID + + "SOMEWHERE IN FRANCE" + + CLEANING A LOCOMOTIVE + + WOMEN AS CARRIAGE CLEANERS + + WINDOW CLEANERS + + STEAM ROLLER DRIVER + + TRAINING WOMEN AS AEROPLANE BUILDERS + + RIVETTING ON BOILERS + + FACING BOILER BLUE FLANGES + + ROUGH TURNING JACKET FORGING OF 6-POUNDER HOTCHKISS GUN + + HOW TO DRESS FOR MUNITION MAKING + + BACK TO THE LAND + + WOMEN TACKLE A STRONG MAN'S PROBLEM + + SIX REASONS WHY YOU SHOULD BUY WAR SAVINGS CERTIFICATES + + "FOR YOUR CHILDREN" + + BOOK MARKS ISSUED BY THE N.W.S.C. + + W.A.A.C.'s ON THE MARCH + + WOMEN OF THE RESERVE AMBULANCE + + POLICE WOMEN + + + + + + +FOREWORD + + +"Our War Loan from England"--That is the heading under which were +grouped the nine lectures given by Miss Helen Fraser at Vassar +College. England has borrowed a billion or so of dollars from us, but +the obligation is not all her way. The moral strength of our cause is +immeasurably increased by her alliance, and the spectacle of a great +democracy organizing itself for complete unity in a world crisis is +worth an incalculable amount to us. Such a vision Miss Fraser has +brought to her wider public among the women of America in this notable +book. Of her personal influence let me quote again from the Vassar +students' newspaper: + +"Miss Fraser, here's to you! We don't need to say that we liked Miss +Fraser and everything she had to tell us. The way we followed her +around, and packed every room in which she spoke, out to the doors +and sometimes up to the ceiling, is proof enough of that. And even +the fact that it was Sunday could not check our outburst of song +in the Soap Palace as Miss Fraser departed. Her gracious speech of +appreciation left with us the question not phrased by her before, but +certainly in the minds of every one of us who had been hearing her: +'What are _we_ going to do?'" + +An unsolicited testimonial, this, of the most genuine kind. The +College students of today are not easily coaxed into lecture rooms +outside of their own classes. + +I believe that Miss Fraser's book will be read with the same eager +attention that followed her first speeches in this country as she +began her work of educating American women to a sense of what the +mobilization of the entire citizen army of a democracy must mean. + +Nor will her influence cease there. Miss Fraser's book is a piece of +history; and history is action. The wonderful work of the women of +England is already emulated by the splendid efforts along many lines +of the women in our country. The new lessons of co-operation and of +selfless devotion, learned from this book will, I confidently predict, +within a few months, be translated into action by the Women's War +Service Committees in every state of our land. + +And the greatest lesson of all is that women and men must work +together in this new world. I count it an honour--being a man--to be +asked to introduce Miss Fraser in this way to the American public. +For my part I would have no separate women's division, except such +as concerns the tasks exclusively for women. I would have women side +by side with men in every division of labour, working out the task +with equal fidelity, equal authority, and equal rewards. One of the +results of this amazing age is going to be the new comprehension, +understanding, and sympathy of the one sex for the other. + + H.N. MacCRACKEN. + Vassar College, + Poughkeepsie, New York. + January 11, 1918. + + * * * * * + + + + +The women of all the allies are one in this great struggle. Our hopes +and our fears, our anxieties and our prayers, our visions and our +desolations, are the same. + +Our work is the same task of supporting and sustaining the energies of +our men in arms and of our nations at home. All the allied women know +more of each other than they ever did before, and this is all to the +good. + +The task of women in this struggle and in the reconstruction to come +after, are great tasks, and the world needs in every country not only +the wisdom and knowledge of its own women but the strength in them +that comes from being one of a great world-wide group and conscious of +the unity of all women. + +Anything that can help to that unity and understanding seems to me of +great value, and this record is written for American women in the hope +it may be of some small service. + + H.F. + December 25, 1917. + + * * * * * + + + + +THE SPIRIT OF WOMEN + + + "I have no fear nor shrinking. I have seen death so often that + it is not strange or fearful to me.... I thank God for this + ten weeks' quiet before the end. Life has always been hurried + and full of difficulty. This time of rest has been a great + mercy. They have all been very kind to me here. But this I + would say, standing as I do in view of God and eternity, I + realise that patriotism is not enough. I must have no hatred + or bitterness towards anyone." + + --EDITH CAVELL's last message. + + * * * * * + + + + +CHAPTER I + +THE SPIRIT OF WOMEN + +TO WOMEN + + Your hearts are lifted up, your hearts + That have foreknown the utter price, + Your hearts burn upward like a flame + Of splendour and of sacrifice. + + For you too, to battle go, + Not with the marching drums and cheers, + But in the watch of solitude + And through the boundless night of fears. + + And not a shot comes blind with death, + And not a stab of steel is pressed + Home, but invisibly it tore, + And entered first a woman's breast. + + From LAWRENCE BINYON's "For the Fallen." + + +The spirit of women in this greatest of world struggles cannot, in +its essence, be differentiated from the spirit of men. They are one. +The women of our countries in the mass feel about the issues of this +struggle just as the men do; know, as they do, why we fight, and like +them, are going on to the end. The declarations of our Government as +to conditions for peace are ours, too, and when we vote, we shall show +the spirit of women is clearly and definitely on the side of freedom, +justice and democracy. + +Our actions speak louder than any words can ever do, and the record +of our women's sacrifices and work stand as great silent witnesses to +our spirit. There is nothing we have been asked to do that we have not +done and we have initiated great pieces of work ourselves. The hardest +time was in the beginning when we waited for our tasks, feeling as +if we beat stone walls, reading our casualty lists, receiving our +wounded, caring for the refugees, doing everything we could for the +sailor and soldier and his dependants, helping the women out of work, +but feeling there was so much more to do behind the men--so very much +more--for which we had to wait. We did all the other things faithfully +and, so far as we could, prepared ourselves and when the tasks came, +we volunteered in tens of thousands, every kind of woman, young, old, +middle-aged, rich and poor, trained and untrained, and today we have +1,250,000 women in industry directly replacing men, 1,000,000 in +munitions, 83,000 additional women in Government Departments, 258,300 +whole and part-time women workers on the land. We are recruiting women +for the Women's Army Auxiliary Corps at the rate of 10,000 a month and +we have initiated a Women's Royal Naval Service. We have had the help +of about 60,000 V.A.D.'s (Voluntary Aid Detachment of Red Cross) in +Hospitals in England and France, and on our other fronts, in addition +to our thousands of trained nurses. + +The women in our homes carry on--no easy task in these days of +shortages in food and coal and all the other difficulties, saving, +conserving, working, caring for the children, with so many babies +whose fathers have never seen them, though they are one to two years +old, and so many babies who will never see their fathers. + +Some of our women have died on active service, doctors, nurses and +orderlies. Our most recent and greatest loss is in the death of Dr. +Elsie Inglis, the initiator of the Scottish Women's Hospitals, who +died on November 26th, three days after she had safely brought back +her Unit from South Russia, which had been nursing the Serbians +attached to the Russian army. + +One who was with her at the end writes, "It was a great triumphant +going forth." There was no hesitation, no fear. As soon as she knew +she was going, that the call had come, with her wonted decision of +character, she just readjusted her whole outlook. "For a long time I +_meant_ to live," she said, "but now I know I am going. It is so nice +to think of beginning a new job over there! But I would have liked to +have finished one or two jobs here first!" + +She told us the story of the breaking of their moorings as they lay in +the river in a great storm of wind and of how that breaking had saved +them from colliding with another ship. "I asked," she said, "what had +happened." Someone said "Our moorings broke." I said, "No, a hand cut +them!" Then, after a moment's silence, with an expression in face and +voice which it is utterly impossible to convey, she added, "That same +Hand is cutting my moorings now, and I am going forth!" The picture +rose before you of an unfettered ship going out to the wide sea and of +the great untrammelled, unhindered soul moving majestically onwards. + +[Illustration: MISS EDITH CAVELL] + +[Illustration: DR. ELSIE INGLIS] + +There was no fear, no death! How could there be. She never thought of +her own work--she knew unity. "You did magnificently," was said to her +within an hour of her going. With all her wonted assurance and with a +touch of pride she answered, "My Unit did magnificently." + +Her loss is irreparable to us, but there is no room for sorrow. She +leaves us triumph, victory, and peace. + +Edith Cavell's name is another that shines upon our roll of +honour--the same serene great spirit--no thought of self, but only a +great love and desire to serve--and a great fearlessness. Her message, +before she went out alone at dawn to her death, which added another +stain to the enemy's pages dark with blood, was the message of one who +saw the eternal verities, the things worth living and dying for. + +Our men's Roll of Honor is a heavy Roll. We have lost in killed and +permanently out of the army, a million men and over 75 per cent of our +casualties are our own Island losses. Our women in every village and +in every city street have lost husbands, fathers, brothers, lovers and +friends. From every rank of life our men have died, the agricultural +labourer, the city clerk, the railway man, the miner, the engineer, +the business man, the poet, the journalist, the author, the artist, +the scientist, the heirs of great names, many of the most brilliant +of our young men. We comb out our mines and shipyards, and factories, +ceaselessly for more men. Our boys at eighteen go into the army. +From eighteen to forty-one every man is liable for service. Our +Universities have only a handful of men in them and these are +the disabled, the unfit, and men from other countries. Oxford and +Cambridge Colleges are full of Officers' Training Corps men. The +Examination Schools and the Town Hall at Oxford are Hospitals, and +Oxford and Cambridge streets are full of the blue-clad wounded, as +are so many of our cities. We are a nation at war, and at war for over +three years and everywhere and in everything we are changed. + +In these years we women have lived always with the shadow of the war +over us--it never leaves us, night or day. We do not live completely +where we are in these days. A bit of us is always with our men on our +many fields of war. We live partly in France and Flanders, in Italy, +in the Balkans, in Egypt and Palestine and Mesopotamia, in Africa, +with the lonely white crosses in Gallipoli, with our men who guard us +sleeping and waking, going down to the sea in ships and under the sea, +fighting death in submarines and mines, and with those who in the air +are the eyes and the winged cavalry of our forces. + +We mourn our dead, not sadly and hopelessly, though life for many of +us is emptier forever, and for many so much harder, and we wear very +little mourning. We mourn silently, and with a sure faith that our +men's supreme sacrifice is not in vain. "Greater love hath no man +than this, that he lay down his life for his friend." The little white +crosses of our graves symbolize the faith for which they die. + +The message of our soldier poets who have been created by this war +and have written immortal verse, and many of whom have died, is the +message of men who have seen through the veils of time into eternity, +who are free of life and death, whom nothing can hurt, "if it be not +the Destined Will." + +The veils of time grow thin in these days to those of us who take +Death into our reckoning all the time. We think of our men gone on +ahead as eternally young. + + "Solemn the drums thrill; Death august and royal + Sings sorrow up into immortal spheres. + There is music in the midst of desolation + And a glory that shines before our tears. + + * * * * * + + "They shall not grow old, as we that are left grow old + Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn. + At the going down of the Sun and in the morning + We will remember them." + +We know, too, though we do not often define it, that the forces we +women fight in the enemy are the forces that have left women out in +world affairs. + +Germany is the Fatherland, never, it is significant, the Motherland +as our little Islands are, and its mad dream of militarism and +_Weltmacht_ is the dream of men who deny any constructive part to +women in the great affairs of life. The hopes of all the democracies +are bound up in this struggle and its issue, and there is no real +place in the world for the true service and genius and work of women, +any more than for that of the mass of men, save in democracy. We mean +so much in these days by democracy. It seems to be indefinable in its +larger meanings. It is not a system of government, but, on the other +hand, no country can be called democratic that has not established +political freedom, and no country is truly democratic in which such +freedom is only in name, and its women are not included or a group +rule or the demagogue and the worst kind of politician hold sway. + +Democracy is not here till all serve and all are given opportunities +so that they have something of value to give to their country and +to the world. Democracy is the ever changing, ever developing, ever +creative spirit of man expressing itself in his institutions and +systems of government and relationships. + +Its quarrel with our enemies, who would impose on the mass of men +cast-iron systems, and would set up state idols to be worshipped as +higher than the Conscience and spirit of man, is so profound and goes +so deeply into knowledge and feelings that are too big for words, that +the soldier who never tries to express it but goes out and drills and +works and disciplines himself that he may present his body as a living +shield for the faith that is within him, and the woman who works with +him and behind him, healing and giving, silently, are perhaps wisest +of all. + +It is no time for words only, though right words are mighty powers, +but for living faith in deeds and the spirit of the women of all our +allied countries is swift to answer the challenge--by their works +shall ye know them. + +The spirit of our women shows, like that of the French women who +tend their farms, keep their shops, work ceaselessly everywhere, most +clearly and wonderfully in their work. In our hundreds of hospitals +night and day, they care for the wounded and the sick and the dying, +bringing consolation, love, skill, heroism, patience and all fine +things as their gift. From myriads of homes they pour forth to +their daily toil, carrying on the work of the country, educating the +children, taking the place of their men on the railways, the factory, +the workshop, the banks and offices. In the munition works, in the +shipyards, in the engineering shops, in the aeroplane sheds, they +work in tens of thousands--risking life and health in some cases, +but thinking little of it, compared with what their men are doing, +knee-deep in snow and mud and water in the trenches. "Is the work +heavy?" you ask. "Not so heavy as the soldiers'." "Are the hours +long?" "Six days and nights in the trenches are longer." "We are going +to win and you are going to help us"--and the munition girl and the +land girl and the workers answer not only with cheers and words but +answer with shells and ships and aeroplanes and submarines and food +produced and conserved, and in industrial tasks done by men and women +together. + +The enemy airships and aeroplanes bomb our cities but our girls "carry +on"--no telephone girl has left her post--there have been no panics in +our workshops. + +And the spirit of the Waac--the khaki girl--is the spirit of her +brother. + +On one occasion in France in an air raid, enemy bombs came very near +some girl signallers. They behaved splendidly and someone suggested +it should be mentioned in the Orders of the Day. "No," said the +Commanding Officer, "we don't mention soldiers in orders for doing +their duty,"--and that tribute to their attitude is deserved and the +right one. + +And, like our men, we carry on cheerfully, knowing there is only one +possible end, victory. We fight for the sanctity of the given word, +for honour, for the rights of individuals and nations, for the ideals +that have preserved humanity from barbarism, for the right of service, +for the salvation of common humanity. + +More, we women work with a feeling in our hearts that we, who bear +and cherish life, and to whom its destruction is most terrible, have +a great work to do and a great part to play in the settlement of the +problem of war in the future. + +The transmutation of the struggles of mankind from the physical to the +spiritual, the solution of national and international problems, the +solution of all the riddles of life that demand an answer or man's +conquest, cannot be done by man alone. It is our task also and to +the great work of building up a new world after we emerge from this +crucible of fire in which the souls of the nations are being tested, +the spirit of women has much to bring. + + + + +ORGANIZATION AND ITS PITFALLS + + "The more they gazed, the more their wonder grew + That one small head could carry all she knew." + + + + +CHAPTER II + +ORGANIZATION AND ITS PITFALLS + + +There are people who declare that the winning of this war depends on +organization alone. That is palpably untrue. Good organization can do +much. The greatest thing in all organizations is the living flame that +makes grouping real--the selfless spirit of service that the fighting +man possesses and that is beyond all words of praise. + +Talk to a soldier or a sailor, realize how he thinks and +feels about his ship, his battalion, his aircorps. He is +subordinated--selfless--disciplined. The secret of the good soldiers' +achievements and his greatness is selfless service and in our national +organizations behind him that same spirit is the one great thing that +counts. + +If you have that as a foundation among your workers, organization is +easy. + +We found, at the beginning of the war, a great tendency among women to +rush into direct war work. Masses of women wanted to leave work they +knew everything about to go and do work they knew nothing about. +One thing we have realized, that the trained and educated woman is +invaluable, that the best service you can render your country is to do +the work you know best and are trained for, if it is, as it frequently +is, important civic work. Another point, no younger woman should stop +her education or training--it is the greatest mistake possible. The +war is not over and even when it is, the great task of reconstruction +lies ahead and we want every trained woman we can get for that. Our +women are in Universities and Colleges in greater numbers than ever, +and more opportunities for education, in Medicine in particular have +been opened to them. + +The trained woman makes the best worker in practically every +department and is particularly useful in organizing. A scheme that +is only indifferently good but, so far as it goes, is on right lines, +well organized and directed, will be more valuable and get far better +results than a perfect scheme badly organized and run. An organization +or a committee that has a woman as Chairman, President or Secretary, +who insists on running everything and deciding everything for herself, +is bound for disaster. + +I should certainly place the will and ability to delegate authority +high up in the qualifications a good organizer must possess. + +We cannot afford to have little petty jealousies, social, local, and +individual, on war committees or any other for that matter, but in +this big struggle, they are particularly petty and unworthy. + +We have all met frequently the kind of person who tells you, "This +village will never work with that village," or "Mrs. This will never +work with Mrs. That. They never do"; and I always answer, "Isn't it +time they learned to, when their boys die in the trenches together, +why shouldn't they work together," and they always do when it is put +to them. + +There is no difficulty in getting women to work together in our +country. We have a link in our Roll of Honor that is more unifying +than any words or arguments or appeals can be. Our women of every rank +of life are closely drawn together. + +The appeal to women is to organize for National Service and to realize +that work of national importance is likely not to be at all important +work. + +The women in important places in all our countries will be few in +proportion, but the struggle will be won in the Nation, as in the +Army, by the army of the myriads of faithful workers faithfully +performing tasks of drudgery and quiet service--and a realization of +this is the greatest need. + +Sticking to the work is of supreme importance. We do not want people +who take up something with great enthusiasm and drop it in a few +months. Nothing is achieved by that. + +The good organizer sees her workers do not "grow weary in well doing." + +Another important work in organization is to prevent waste of +material, effort and money, by co-ordination whenever possible, +though I should say, as a broad principle, co-ordination should not +be carried to the point of merging together kinds of work that make +a different appeal for work and money and require different treatment +and knowledge and powers. The best results are reached by securing +concentration of appeal and organization on one big issue and getting +the work done by a group directly and keenly interested in the one big +thing and with enthusiasm for it and knowledge of it. + +In the personnel of committees and their composition our women have +made it a definite policy to secure the appointment of women to all +Government and National Committees on which our presence would be +useful and on which we ought to be represented and we always prefer +committees of men and women together, unless it be for anything that +is distinctly better served by women's committees. + +There is one pitfall in organization into which women fall more +readily than men in my experience. Our instinct as women is to want +to make everything perfect. We instinctively run to detail and to a +desire for absolute accuracy and perfection. + +This is invaluable in many ways, but in organizing on a big scale +may be a serious fault. There must, of course, be method, order +and accuracy, but the great essential to secure in big things is +harmonious working--not to insist on a rigid sameness but to allow for +widely divergent views and attitudes and ways of doing things so long +as the essential rules are observed. We should not insist too much +on identity in the way of work of different places and districts. +In essentials--unity; in non-essentials, liberty; in all things, +charity--that might well be the wise organizer's motto. + +The supplementing of governmental organization by national voluntary +organization is a great piece of work and in the beginning of the war, +and still, many of our organizations, voluntary or semi-official in +character, were of great service. The work of the Soldiers and Sailors +Families' Association is an example. The S. and S.F.A. had been +created in the South African War and in peace time and war time looked +after the dependants of the soldier and sailor. Its committees were +composed of men and women--and it administered voluntary funds and +later grants from the National Relief Fund, raised at the outbreak of +war. + +When war broke out, all the Reservists were called up and our men +volunteered in tens of thousands. The pay offices of the army, being +small like everything else in our army, could not cope quickly with +the numbers of claims for allowances pouring in, but the S. and S.F.A. +stepped into the breach and looked after the dependants. It secured +vast numbers more of women in every town and village who visited every +dependant and looked after them. They advanced the allowances which +were paid back to them later--and this started in the first week of +the war. They gave additional grants in certain hard cases for rent, +sickness or in event of deaths in family at home. Every home was +visited and no dependant needed to be in distress or want--S. and +S.F.A. offices existed in every town and representatives in every +village and any difficulty or trouble could be brought to them. The +whole of this work is done voluntarily. In some cases workrooms were +started from which sewing and knitting for soldiers and sailors were +given to the dependents and paid for. It was not only the money and +practical help that was of great service--the S. and S.F.A. visitor to +the soldier's wife and mother brought sympathy and help and interest. + +Another movement for soldiers and sailors dependents was the founding +of clubs for them in many towns. One hundred and thirty-five of these +clubs are linked up now in the United Services Clubs League. They are +bright, cheery rooms in which the women can find newspapers, books, +music, amusement, and opportunity to sew or knit comforts, can meet +their friends and talk. + +The Royal Patriotic Fund was another semi-official organization which +was run voluntarily, gave grants at death of soldier or sailor and +administered pensions. It is now entirely merged in the Naval and +Military War Pensions Statutory Committee and local committees set +up in January, 1916, which administer all grants, pensions, wound +gratuities, etc., and looks after dependants. + +Women sit on the Statutory Committee and there must be women members +on every County, Borough and City War Pensions Committee in our +country. + +The organization of war charities is now in England controlled by the +War Charities Committee appointed by the Government in April, 1916. +The committee controls not only what could be strictly termed War +Charities, but all war agencies of any kind for which appeals for +funds are made to the public. These organizations must be registered +and approved by the committee, and their accounts must be open to +inspection and audit. This was a wise and necessary step, not so much +because of actual fraudulent appeals--there has been practically none +of that, but there was a certain amount of overlapping and of waste of +money, material and energy, and some very few organizations in which +an undue proportion of funds raised was absorbed in expenses. Comforts +for soldiers and prisoners of war parcels are also now co-ordinated +under two national committees. + +The first work of registering Belgian refugees and of providing French +and Flemish interpreters was done by a voluntary organization--the +London Society for Women's Suffrage (a branch of N.U.W.S.S.), which +has always been notable for its admirable organization. It provided +150 interpreters for this work in a few days, and work was carried on +at all the London Centres from early morning till midnight. When the +Government took over the charge of Belgian refugees, the system of +registration used by the London Society was adopted without change by +them and the organizer in charge was taken over also and put in a very +responsible position at the War Refugees Committee's Headquarters. + +The work of our Government Employment Exchanges (which were +established before the War by the Board of Trade) and are now under +the Ministry of Labour--has been supplemented by various Professional +Women's Bureaus, by the compiling of a Professional Women's Register, +secured through Universities, Colleges, Headmistresses' Association, +etc., and by the setting up of the Women's Service Bureau by the +London Society for Women Suffrage (N.U.W.S.S.). Various women's +organizations have established most valuable clearing houses for +voluntary workers in Scotland and England and Wales. The Women's +Service Bureau has dealt with 40,000 applications for voluntary and +paid work--mostly paid. Its interviewers take the greatest trouble to +place these applicants suitably, and to find out just what they can do +or would be good at doing. + +Our biggest Government arsenal secured their first munition +supervisors through it--and the Government Departments, big firms, +factories, organizations, banks, workshops, institutions of any kind, +send to it for workers. + +It not only finds these posts without charge--it is supported entirely +by voluntary contribution--but it has a loan and grant fund to enable +women and girls without money to pay for training and maintenance. + +Its records and the letters in its flies provide reading that is +as absorbing as any novel, and it was one of the wise agencies that +realized the older woman had a place and could help as well as the +younger ones. + +To find the person and the post and to put them together is its +fascinating and admirably done task. + +The organization done by women in Britain has been notable and +admirable. + +I can only touch on some of it and must leave out much, but it is +worth while noting that there has been very little overlapping in the +work. The total percentage of overlapping was estimated by the War +Charities Committee on their investigation at 10 per cent and of that +only a very small amount was due to women. + + + + +WOMEN HAVE SERVED OR ARE SERVING ON THE FOLLOWING GOVERNMENT +COMMITTEES. + + +Belgian Refugees' Committee. 1914. + +Clerical and Commercial Occupation Committee, do (Scotland.) 1915. + +Disabled Officers and Men. + +Education After the War. April, 1916. + +Educational Reform. (August, 1916.) + +Food, Committee of Inquiry Into High Cost of--June, 1916. + +Advisory Committee on Women in Industry. March, 1916. + +Labor Commission to Deal with Industrial Unrest. (Ministry of Labor.) +June, 1917. + +Munitions Central Labor Supply Committee. + +Munitions, Arbitration Tribunals. + +Munitions, Committee on the Supply and Organization of Women's Service +in Canteens, Hostels, Clubs, etc. December, 1916. + +Naval and Military War Pensions Statutory Committee. January, 1916. + +Nurses, Supply of--October, 1916. + +Polish Victims' Relief Fund. + +Prevention and Relief of Distress. 1914. + +Professional Classes Sub-Committee. + +Prisoners of War Help Committee. + +Reconstruction Committee. (To advise the Government on the many +national problems which will arise at the end of the war.) 1916. + +Shops: Committee of Inquiry, to Consider Conditions of Retail Trade to +Secure the Enlistment of Men. (November, 1915.) + +Teachers' Salaries. Departmental Committee of Enquiry. June, 1917. + +War Charities. April, 1916. + +National War Savings Committee. April, 1916. + + +COMMITTEES EXCLUSIVELY COMPOSED OF WOMEN. + +Committee, Report on Joint Standing Industrial Councils. 1917. + +Women's Wages Committee. 1917. + +Central Committee on Women's Employment. 1914. + +Drinking Among Women, Committee of Enquiry. November, 1915. + +There are also two women on the-- + +Executive Committee of National Relief Fund. + +Ministry of Food has two women Co-Directors-- + + Mrs. C.S. Peel + Mrs. Pember Reeves + + + + +HOSPITALS--RED CROSS--V.A.D. + + "Come, ye blessed of my Father; + I was sick and ye visited me." + + --MATT., Chap. 25. + + + "A lady with a lamp shall stand + In the great history of the land, + A noble type of good + Heroic womanhood." + + --H.W. LONGFELLOW, "To Florence Nightingale." + + + + +CHAPTER III + +HOSPITALS--RED CROSS--V.A.D. + + +When war broke out on August 4, 1914, probably the only women in our +country who knew exactly how they could help, and would be used in the +war, were our nurses in the Navy and Army nursing services. + +In the Army, Queen Alexandra's Imperial Military Nursing Service +had in it at that time about 280 members, matrons, sisters and staff +nurses, Miss Becher, R.R.C., being Matron-in-Chief for Military +Hospitals. The Q.A.I.M.N.S. had a large Reserve which was also +immediately called out and these nurses were used at once, six parties +being sent to France and Belgium by August 20th. + +The Second Branch was the Territorial Force Nursing Service, which was +in 1914 eight years old. It was initiated by Miss Haldane and a draft +scheme of an establishment of nurses willing to serve in general +hospitals in the event of the Territorial Forces being mobilized, was +submitted at a meeting held in Miss Haldane's house, Sir Alfred Keogh, +Medical Director General, being present. This scheme was approved and +an Advisory Council appointed at the War Office. + +The Matrons of the largest and most important nurse-training centres +in the Kingdom were appointed as principal matrons (unpaid) and to +them the success of this Force is largely due. They received the +applications of matrons, sisters and nurses willing to join, looked +after their references and submitted them, after approval by the Local +Committee, to the Advisory Council. To their splendid work was due the +ease of the vast mobilization of nurses when war broke out. There were +then 3,000 nurses on their rolls. On August 5th they were called out +and in ten days 23 Territorial General Hospitals in England, Wales and +Scotland were ready to receive the wounded and the nurses were also +ready. + +Each hospital had 520 beds, but this accommodation was quite +inadequate after a few months of war, and the accommodation of +practically every hospital was increased to 1,000 to 3,000 beds and +many Auxiliary Hospitals had to be organized. By June, 1915, the +Territorial Nursing Staff was 4,000 in number and in Hospitals in +France and in Belgium and in clearing stations, there were over 400 +Territorial Nurses as well as Imperial Nurses. + +The Naval Nurses were about 70 in number with a Reserve, and their +Reserve was called up at once also, and they went to their various +Hospitals. The other two great organizations, the British Red Cross +and the order of St. John of Jerusalem, now working together through +the joint committee set up to administer the _Times_ Fund for the Red +Cross, which has reached over $30,000,000, had their schemes also. In +time of war they are controlled by the War Office and Admiralty. The +Red Cross had, since 1909, organized Voluntary Aid Detachments to +give voluntary aid to the sick and wounded in the event of war in home +territory. There were 60,000 men and women trained in transport work, +cooking, laundry, first aid and home nursing. St. John's ambulance had +the same system of ambulance workers and V.A.D.'s to call on. + +As the war proceeded it was quite clear that the nursing staffs, +though we had secured 3,000 more trained nurses through the Red Cross +in the first few weeks of the war, would be quite inadequate, and it +was found necessary to use V.A.D.'s and to open V.A.D. Hospitals, +most of them being established in large private houses lent for the +purpose. Within nine months there were 800 of these at work in every +part of England, Scotland and Wales. The V.A.D.'s suffered a little +at first from confusion with the ladies who insisted on rushing off to +France after taking a ten day's course in first aid. We had suffered +a great deal from that kind of thing in the South African War and +were determined to have no repetition of it, so they were firmly and +decisively removed from France without delay. + +[Illustration: FIRST AMBULANCE ON DUTY IN THE FIRST ZEPPELIN RAID ON +LONDON] + +To get more trained nurses, rules were relaxed and the age limit +raised. Many nurses, retired and married, returned to work, but very +quickly it was perfectly clear our trained nurses were inadequate in +number for the great work before us, and in less than a year in most +hospitals every ward had one V.A.D. worker assisting who had been +nominated by her Commandant and County Director, and in March, 1915, +the Hospitals were asked by the Director General of the Army Medical +Service to train V.A.D.'s in large numbers as probationers, for +three or six months, to fit them for work under trained nurses. +Every possible woman, trained or partially trained, was mobilized and +thousands have been trained during the three years of war, and V.A.D. +members have been drafted to military and Red Cross Hospitals, abroad +and at home, in addition to doing the work of the V.A.D. Hospitals. A +V.A.D. Hospital with a hundred beds will have two trained nurses, and +all the other work is done by V.A.D.'s. The Commandant-in-Chief now +is Lady Ampthill. Dame Katharine Furse was Commandant-in-Chief until +quite recently, but is now head of the new Women's Royal Navy Service. + +Many have gone to France and done distinguished work and there is no +body of women in our country who have done more faithful and useful +work than our V.A.D.'s, who nurse, cook and wash dishes, serve meals, +scrub the floors, look after the linen and do everything for the +comfort and welfare of our men, with a capacity, zeal and endurance +beyond praise. About 60,000 women have helped in this way. Our nurses +and V.A.D.'s have distinguished themselves at home and abroad. +They have been in casualty lists on all our fronts. They have been +decorated for bravery and for heroic work. The full value of all +they have done cannot yet be appraised. They have spent themselves +unceasingly in caring for our men. They have nursed them with shells +falling around. Hospitals have frequently been shelled and in one +case two nurses worked in a theatre, wearing steel helmets during the +bombardment, with patients who were under anaesthetics and could not +be moved. They have waited out beside men who could not be got in from +under shell fire of the enemy until darkness fell. Two V.A.D. nurses +in another raid saw to the removal of all their patients to cellars +and, while they themselves were entering the cellars after everyone +was safe, bombs fell upon the building they had just left and +completely demolished it. Some of our nurses have died of typhus. They +have been wounded in Hospitals and on Hospital Trains, and they have +done all their work as cheerfully and with the same high courage +as our men have. We have had helping us in our nursing numbers of +Canadian nurses, not only for the beautiful Canadian Hospital at +Beechborough Park, but for many other Hospitals in England and France, +and nurses from Australia and New Zealand. + +We have had American nurses, also, but these will now be absorbed, as +needed, by the American Army in France. + +The records of our Medical women in the war are among the very best. +The belief that nursing was woman's work but that medicine and surgery +were not, was dying before the war, but it existed, and it was the +war that gave it the final death blow. Immediately war broke out Dr. +Louisa Garrett Anderson, a daughter of our pioneer woman doctor, Dr. +Elizabeth Garrett Anderson, and Dr. Flora Murray formed the Women's +Hospital Corps, a complete small unit and offered it to the British +Government. It was refused but accepted by the French Government, +and was established by them at Claridge's Hotel in Paris, where it +did admirable work. Its work aroused the interest and admiration of +the British Royal Army Medical Corps, and they were asked to form a +Hospital at Wimereux, which afterwards amalgamated with the R.A.M.C. +Later Sir Alfred Keogh established them in Endell Street, London, +where they have a Hospital of over 700 beds. The women surgeons and +doctors and staff are graded for purposes of pay in the same way as +men members of R.A.M.C. + +In July, 1916, the War Office asked for the services of 80 medical +women for work at home and abroad, and later for 50 more. + +The Women's Service League sent a unit to Antwerp which did some +excellent work, though it was there only a very short time. The +members of the unit were among the last to leave the city, escaping in +the last car to cross the bridge before it was blown up. + +The work of the Scottish Women's Hospitals, organized by the Scottish +Federation of the Nation Union of Women's Suffrage Societies, and +initiated by Dr. Elsie Inglis, of Edinburgh, would require a volume +to themselves, and American women, who have given so generously and +so freely to them, know a great deal about their work. The first +unit went to Royaumont in France, and established itself at the old +Abbaye there. It stood from the beginning in the very first rank for +efficiency. A leading French expert, Chief of the Pasteur Laboratory +in Paris, speaking of this Hospital, said he had inspected hundreds +of military Hospitals, but not one which commanded his admiration so +completely as this. Another unit was sent to Troyes and was maintained +by the students of Newnham and Girton Colleges. Dr. Elsie Inglis's +greatest work began in April, 1915, when her third unit went to +Serbia, where she may he truly said to have saved the Serbian nation +from despair. The typhus epidemic had at the time of her arrival +carried off one-third of the Serbian Army Medical Corps, and the +epidemic threatened the very existence of the Serbian Army. She +organized four great Hospital Units, initiated every kind of needful +sanitary precaution, looked into every detail, regardless of her +own safety and comfort, hesitating at no task, however loathsome and +terrible. Her constant message to the Serbian Medical Headquarters +Staff was "Tell me where your need is greatest without respect to +difficulties, and we will do our best to help Serbia and her brave +soldiers." + +Two nurses and one of the doctors died of typhus. Miss Margaret Neil +Fraser, the famous golfer, was one of those who died there, and many +beds were endowed in the Second Unit in her memory. + +The Third Serbian Unit when on its way out was commandeered by Lord +Methuen at Malta for service among our own wounded troops, a service +they were glad to render. Later when the Germans and Austrians overran +Serbia, one of the Units retreated with the Serbian Army, but the +one in which Dr. Inglis was, remained at Kralijevo where she refused +to leave her Serbian wounded, knowing they would die without her +care. She was captured with her staff and, after difficulties and +indignities and discomforts, were released by the Austrians and +returned through Switzerland to England. On her return she urged +the War Office to send her, and her Unit, to Mesopotamia. Rumors had +already reached England of the terrible state of things there from +the medical point of view, which was fully revealed later by the +Mesopotamian Commission. She was refused permission to go, though it +is perfectly clear their assistance would have been invaluable and +ought to have been used. Once more she returned to help the Serbians +and established Units in the Balkans and South Russia. The Serbian +people have shown every token of gratitude and of honor which it +was in their power to bestow upon her. The people in 1916 put up a +fountain in her honor at Mladenovatz, and the Serbian Crown Prince +conferred on her the highest honor Serbia has to give, the First Order +of the White Eagle. Dr. Inglis died, on November 26th, three days +after bringing her Unit safely home from South Russia. Memorial +services were held in her honor at St. Margaret's, Westminster, and +in St. Giles's Cathedral, Edinburgh. Those who were there speak of +it not as a funeral but as a triumph. The streets were thronged; all +Edinburgh turned out to do her homage as she went to her last resting +place. The Scottish Command was represented and lent the gun-carriage +on which the coffin was borne and the Union Jack which covered it. + +[Illustration: "SOMEWHERE IN FRANCE"] + +In the Cathedral the Rev. Dr. Wallace Williamson, Dean of the Order of +The Thistle, said: "We are assembled this day with sad but proud and +grateful hearts to remember before God a very dear and noble lady, +our beloved sister, Elsie Inglis, who has been called to her rest. We +mourn only for ourselves, not for her. She has died as she lived, in +the clear light of faith and self-forgetfulness, and now her name is +linked forever with the great souls who have led the van of womanly +service for God and man. A wondrous union of strength and tenderness, +of courage and sweetness, she remains for us a bright and noble memory +of high devotion and stainless honor.... Especially today, in the +presence of representatives of the land for which she died, we think +of her as an immortal link between Serbia and Scotland, and as a +symbol of that high courage which will sustain us, please God, till +that stricken land is once again restored, and till the tragedy of +war is eradicated and crowned with God's great gifts of peace and of +righteousness." + +The National Union of Women's Suffrage Societies also sent the +Millicent Fawcett Unit, named after its honoured President, to Russia +in 1916 to work among the Polish refugees, especially to do maternity +nursing, and work among the children. + +In February a Maternity Unit started work in Petrograd. With an +excellent staff of women doctors, nurses and orderlies, the little +hospital proved a veritable haven of helpfulness to the distressed +refugee mothers. It soon established so good a reputation for its +thorough and disinterested work that the help of the workers was asked +for by the Moscow Union of Zemstovos (Town and Rural Councils) for +Middle Russia and Galicia. + +In May the Millicent Fawcett Hospital Units were sent out and at +Kazan on the Volga a badly needed Children's Hospital for infectious +diseases was opened. The only other hospital in the place was so full +that it had two patients in each bed. They had a fierce fight against +diphtheria and scarlet fever, which in many cases was very bad, and +they succeeded in saving most of the children, who would certainly +have died in their miserable homes. + +In the summer, the Units took over a small hospital at Stara Chilnoe, +a district without a doctor, and they treated not only refugees, +but the peasants who came in daily in crowds from the surrounding +districts. Other Units of the same kind were started in remote +districts and in summer a Holiday Home at Suida was run to which the +women and children could come from the Petrograd Maternity Hospital +for a rest. They also took charge of two hospitals, temporarily +without any medical staff, in a remote part of the Kazan district, +where they were objects of the most intense curiosity. + +The interpreters were kept busy answering questions about the ages, +salaries and husbands of the staff, and the nurses' wrist watches +roused great excitement. + +That their gratitude and kindness was very real, though their notions +of suitability of place and time were primitive, was shown by the gift +of three live hens being dumped, at 4 a.m., on the bed of a sister +sound asleep. + +The final piece of work was the establishing of an infectious Hospital +for peasants and soldiers in Volhynia, sixty miles behind the firing +line in Galicia. This was done at the urgent request of the Zemstovos +Union. + +There they had to deal with a great deal of smallpox and in another +case with scabies which they stamped out in one small village. These +Units left Russia before the recent changes, but their work was +valuable and appreciated, and again American women helped us in +raising the necessary funds, having subscribed $7,500 towards the +Units. + +One of the workers, Ruth Holden, of Radcliffe College, Boston, died in +one of the epidemics. We have had American women, as we have had men, +helping us from the beginning of the war. The American Women's War +Relief Fund most generously offered to fully equip and maintain a +surgical hospital of 250 beds at Oldway House, Paignton, South Devon, +at the beginning of the war, and this offer was gratefully accepted by +the War Office through the Red Cross Society. + +They also gifted six motor ambulances for use at the front--and these +and the hospital have been of the very greatest service to our wounded +men. + +Others of our medical women are with mixed Units, such as The Wounded +Allies' Relief Committee. Dr. Dickinson Berry went out with others in +a Unit from the Royal Free Hospital to help the Serbian Government, +and Dr. Alice Clark is in the Friends' Unit. + +Our medical women have won rich laurels and have established +themselves in their own profession permanently and thoroughly. Behind +the Hospitals, we have the thousands of women who every day are +working at the Hospital Supply Depots of our country. These are +everywhere and nothing is more wonderful than the way in which our +voluntary workers have gone on faithfully working, conforming to +discipline and hours and steady service as conscientiously as any paid +worker. + +The organizing ability displayed by our women in this amounts to +genius. The buying of material, cutting and making up, parcelling, +storing, and packing of gigantic supplies, all the secretarial and +clerical work involved has been the work of women and mostly of women +of the leisured classes, many of them without any previous training. +From the organization of the big schemes of supply down to such work +as the collecting of sphagnum moss, everything that was needed has +been done, and done well. + + + + +"BRINGING 'BLIGHTY' TO THE SOLDIER" + + "It's a long, long way to Tipperary, + But my heart's right there." + + "Cheero." + + + + +CHAPTER IV + +"BRINGING 'BLIGHTY' TO THE SOLDIER" + + +"Blighty" is Home, the British soldiers in India's corruption of the +Hindustanee, and Blighty is a word we all know well now. + +The full records of this are not easy to give--so much has been done. +Perhaps the simplest way is to begin with the soldier at the training +camp and follow him through his soldier's existence. The first work +lies in giving him comforts, and the women of our country still knit +a good deal and in the early days knitted, as you do now to get your +supplies, in trains and tubes and theatres and concerts, and public +meetings. This was happening while many of our working women were +without work and it was felt that this was likely to compete very +seriously with the work of these women. The Queen realized there was +likely to be hardships through this and also that there would probably +be a great waste of material if voluntary effort was not wisely +guided. So she called at Buckingham Palace a committee of women +to consider the position and Queen Mary's Needlework Guild was the +outcome of it. The following official statement, issued on August 21, +1914, intimated the Queen's wishes and policy. + + Queen Mary's Needlework Guild has received representations to + the effect that the provision of garments by voluntary labor + may have the consequence of depriving of their employment + workpeople who would have been engaged for wages in the making + of the same garments for contractors to the Government. A very + large part of the garments collected by the Guild consists, + however, of articles which would not in the ordinary course + have been purchased by the Government. They include additional + comforts for the soldiers and sailors actually serving, and + for the sick and wounded in hospital, clothing for members of + their families who may fall into distress, and clothing to + be distributed by the local committees for the prevention and + relieving of distress among families who may be suffering from + unemployment owing to the war. If these garments were not made + by the voluntary labor of women who are willing to do their + share of work for the country in the best way open to them, + they would not, in the majority of cases, be made at all. The + result would be that families in distress would receive in + the winter no help in the form of clothing, and the soldiers + and the sailors and the men in hospitals would not enjoy + the additional comforts that would be provided. The Guild is + informed that flannel shirts, socks, and cardigan jackets + are a Government issue for soldiers; flannel vest, socks, and + jerseys for sailors; pajama suits, serge gowns for military + hospitals; underclothing, flannel gowns and flannel waistcoats + for naval hospitals. Her Majesty the Queen is most anxious + that work done for the Needlework Guild should not have a + harmful effect on the employment of men, women, and girls in + the trades concerned, and therefore desires that the workers + of the Guild should devote themselves to the making of + garments other than those which would, in the ordinary course, + be bought by the War Office and Admiralty. All kinds of + garments will be needed for distribution in the winter if + there is exceptional distress. + + The Queen would remind those that are assisting the Guild that + garments which are bought from the shops and are sent to the + Guild are equally acceptable, and their purchases would have + the additional advantage of helping to secure the continuance + of employment of women engaged in their manufacture. It is, + however, not desirable that any appeal for funds should be + made for this purpose which would conflict with the collection + of the Prince of Wales's Fund. + +Branches of Queen Mary's Needlework Guild were started everywhere +and the Mayoresses of practically every town in the Kingdom organized +their own towns. Gifts came from all over the world and a book kept +at Friary Court, St. James', records the gifts received from Greater +Britain and the neutral countries. + +The demand for comforts was very great and in ten months the gross +number of articles received was 1,101,105, but this did not represent +anything like all. It was the Queen's wish that the branches of her +Guild should be free to do as they wished in distribution, send to +local regiments, or regiments quartered in the neighborhood, or use +them for local distress. Great care was taken to see there was no +overlapping, and this is secured fully by Sir Edward Ward's Committee. + +Our men have been well looked after in the way of comforts, socks and +mitts and gloves and jerseys, and mufflers and gloves for minesweepers +and helmets, everything they needed, and the Regimental Comforts Funds +and work still exists as well, all co-ordinated now. + +The Fleet has also had fresh vegetables supplied to it the whole time +by a voluntary agency. + +At the Training Camps, in France, in every field of war, we have the +Y.M.C.A., and there is no soldier in these days and no civilian who +does not know the Red Triangle. There are over 1,000 huts in Britain +and over 150 in France. It is the sign that means something to eat and +something warm to drink, somewhere cozy and warm out of the cold and +chill and damp of winter camp and trench, somewhere to write a letter, +somewhere to read and talk, somewhere that brings all of "Blighty" +that can come to the field of war. In our Y.M.C.A. huts, 30,000 +women work. In the camp towns we have also the Guest Houses, run by +voluntary organizations of women. In the Town Halls we have teas and +music and in our houses we entertain overseas troops as our guests. + +Our men move in thousands to and from the front, going and on leave, +moving from one camp to another, and Victoria Station, Charing Cross +and Waterloo are names written deep in our hearts these days. We have +free buffets for our fighting men at all of these, and at all our +London stations and ports, and these are open night and day. All the +money needed is found by voluntary subscriptions. + +Our men come in on the leave train straight from the trenches, loaded +up with equipment, with their rifles canvas-covered to keep them dry +and clean, with Flanders mud caked upon them to the waist, very tired, +with that look they all bring home from the trenches in their eyes, +but in Blighty and trying to forget how soon they have to go back. The +buffets are there for them, and those who have no one to meet them in +London and who have to travel north or west or east to go home, are +met by men and women who direct them where to go by day and motor them +across London to their station at night. The leave trains that get +in on Sunday morning brings Scottish soldiers that cannot leave till +evening, and St. Columba's, Church of Scotland, has stepped into the +breach. The women meet the train, carry off the soldier for breakfast +in the Hall, which is ready, and they entertain them all day. +Thousands have been entertained in this way, and "It's just home," +said one Gordon Highlander. + +The soldier is in France and there he finds we have sent him Blighty, +too--canteens and Y.M.C.A. Huts. Our books and our magazines, +everything we can think of and send, goes to every field of war. + +He is followed where he can be by amusement and entertainment. Concert +parties are arranged by our actors and actresses, and they go out +and sing and act and amuse our men behind the lines. Lena Ashwell has +organized Concert parties and done a great work in this way. + +Such work as Miss McNaughton's, recorded in her "Diary of the War," +and for which she was decorated before her death, largely caused by +overwork, as Lady Dorothie Fielding's ambulance work, for which she +also was decorated, and the work of the "Women of Pervyse" stand out, +even among the wonderful things done by individual women in this war. + +The "Women of Pervyse," Mrs. Knocker, now the Baronnes de T'Serclas, +and Miss Mairi Chisholm, went out with the Field Ambulance Committee, +and were quartered with others at Ghent before and during and after +the siege of Antwerp. When the ambulance trains started to come in +from Antwerp they worked day and night moving the wounded from the +station to the hospitals--they worked for hours under fire moving +wounded, unperturbed and unshaken. + +After the battle of Dixmude and the armies had settled on the +Neuport-Ypres line, Mrs. Knocker started the Pervyse Poste de Secours +Anglis, a dressing station so close to the firing line that the +wounded could literally be lifted to it from the trenches. + +There they have worked and cared for the men in conditions almost +incredible. In February, 1915, they were decorated by King Albert, and +since March they have been permanently attached to the Third Division +of the Belgian Army. + +In June, 1915, they were mentioned in dispatches for saving life under +heavy fire. They have saved hundreds of lives by being where they can +render aid so swiftly, and the military authorities do not move them, +not only because they wish to pay tribute to their valor but because +they are so valuable. + +Most of all, "Blighty" goes to the soldier in his letters and there +is nothing so dear to the soldier as his letters, and nothing is worse +than to have "no mail." The woman who does not write, and the woman +who writes the wrong things, are equally poor things. The woman who +wants to help her man sends him bright cheerful letters, not letters +about difficulties he can't help, and that will only worry him, but +letters with all the news he would like to have, and the messages that +count for so much. Every woman who writes to a soldier has in that an +influence and a power worthy of all her best. Not only our letters but +our thoughts and our prayers are a wall of strength to, and behind our +men. + +In this war some have talked of spiritual manifestations that +saved disaster in our great retreat. In that people may believe or +disbelieve, but no person of intelligence fails to realize the power +of thought, and love, and hope, and the spirit of women can be a +great power to their men in arms. There are so many ways of giving and +sending that none of us need to fail. + +Then he is in it--in the trenches--over the top--and he may be safe +or he may be wounded--a "Blighty one," as our men say, and we get him +home to nurse and care for--or he may make the supreme sacrifice and +only the message goes home. + +To everyone it must go with something of the consolation of the poem +written by Rifleman S. Donald Cox of the London Rifle Brigade. + + "To My Mother--1916 + + "If I should fall, grieve not that one so weak + And poor as I + Should die. + Nay, though thy heart should break, + Think only this: that when at dusk they speak + Of sons and brothers of another one, + Then thou canst say, 'I, too, had a son, + He died for England's sake,'" + +He may be a prisoner and then we follow him again. There are over +40,000 of our men prisoners and we have over 200,000 of the enemy. The +treatment and conditions of our prisoners in Germany were sometimes +terrible--the horrors of Wittenberg we can never forget, and we are +deeply indebted to the American Red Cross, for all it did before +America's entry into the war, for our prisoners. + +From the beginning of the war we have had to feed our prisoners, and +for the first two years parcels of food went from mothers, sisters and +relatives of the men. Regimental Funds were raised and parcels sent +through these. Girls' Clubs and the League of Honour and Churches and +groups of many kinds sent also. The Savoy Association had a large fund +and did a great work. + +Parcels, which must weigh under eleven pounds, go free to prisoners +of war and there are some regulations about what may be sent. Now the +whole work is regulated by the Prisoners of War Help Committee--an +official committee, and parcels are sent out under their supervision +to every man in captivity. + +Books, games and clothing also go out from us. In most of the Camps +and at Ruhleben, where our civilians are interned, studies are carried +on, and classes of instruction, and technical and educative books are +much needed and demanded. Schools and colleges have sent out large +supplies of these. + +We have also raised funds for the Belgian Prisoners of War in Germany. + +We have exchanged prisoners with Germany and have secured the release +and internment in Switzerland of some hundreds of our worst wounded, +and permanently disabled, and tubercular and consumptive men. In +Switzerland, among the beautiful mountains, they are finding happiness +and health again and many of them are working at new trades and +training. + +We sent out their wives to see them and some girls went to marry their +released men. Some of our prisoners have escaped from Germany and +reached us safely after many risks and adventures. + +"Blighty" goes out to our men also in our Chaplains, the "Padres" +of our forces, and many times soldiers have talked to me of their +splendid "Padre" in Gallipoli, or France or Egypt. They have died with +the men, bringing water and help and trying to bring in the wounded. +They have been decorated with the V.C., our highest honor, the simple +bronze cross given "For Valour." They write home to mothers and wives +and relatives of the men who fall, and send last messages and words of +consolation. + +Their task is a great one, for to men who face death all the time, +and see their dearest friends killed beside them, things eternal are +living realities and there are questions for which they want answers. +There is so much the Padre has to give and his messages are listened +to in a new way and words are winged and living where these men are. + +We have so many of our men from overseas among us who are far from +their own homes, and in London we have Clubs for the Canadians, the +Australians, the New Zealanders, for the two together, immortally to +be known as the "Anzacs," and for the South Africans, where they can +all find a bit of home. We have also just opened American Huts and +the beautiful officers' Club at Lord Leconfield's house, lent for the +purpose. + +For the permanently disabled soldier we are doing a great deal. St. +Dunstan's, the wonderful training school for the blind, has been the +very special work of Sir Arthur Pearson, who is himself blind, and +Lady Pearson. + +The Lord Roberts Workshops for the disabled are doing splendid work in +training and bringing hope to seriously crippled men. + +The British Women's Hospital for which our women have raised $500,000, +is on the site of the old Star and Garter Hotel at Richmond, and is to +be for permanently disabled men. + +There, overlooking our beautiful river, men who have been broken in +the wars for us, may find a permanent home in this monument of our +women's love and gratitude. + + + + +WOMAN-POWER FOR MAN-POWER + + + "She seeketh wool, and flax, and worketh willingly with her hands. + She is like the merchant's ships; she bringeth her food from afar. + + * * * * * + + "She girdeth her loins with strength, and strengtheneth her arms. + + * * * * * + + "Strength and honour are her clothing; and she shall rejoice in + time to come." + + --PROV., Chap. 31. + + + + +CHAPTER V + +WOMAN-POWER FOR MAN-POWER + + +The first result of the outbreak of war for women was to throw +thousands of them out of work. + +Nobody knew--not even the ablest financial and commercial men--just +what a great European war was going to mean, and luxury trades ceased +to get orders; women journalists, women writers, women lecturers, and +women workers of every type were thrown out of work and unemployment +was very great. + +A National Relief Fund was started for general distress and the Queen +dealt in the ablest manner with the women's problem. She issued this +appeal: "In the firm belief that prevention of distress is better than +its relief, and employment is better than charity, I have inaugurated +the 'Queen's Work for Women Fund,' Its object is to provide employment +for as many as possible of the women of this country who have been +thrown out of work by the war. I appeal to the women of Great Britain +to help their less fortunate sisters through the fund. + +"MARY R." + +This appeal was instantly responded to and large sums were subscribed. +A very representative Committee of Women was established, with Miss +Mary MacArthur, the well known Trade Union leader, as Hon. Secretary +and the Queen was in daily touch with its work. + +In the dislocation of industry which had caused the committee's +formation, it was found that there was great slackness in one trade or +a part of it and great pressure in other parts of it or other trades. +The problem was to use the unemployed firms and workers for the new +national needs. + +The committee considered it part of their work to endeavor to increase +the number of firms getting Government contracts, and they created a +special Contracts Department, under the direction of Mr. J.J. Mallon, +of the Anti-sweating League. They, as a result, advised in regard +to the placing of contracts and they undertook to get articles for +the Government, or ordered by other sources, manufactured by firms +adversely affected by the war or in their own workrooms. They worked +with the firms accustomed to making men's clothing and now unemployed, +and found that they could easily take military contracts if certain +technical difficulties were removed. They interviewed the War Office +authorities, modifications were suggested and approved and the full +employment in the tailoring trade which followed gave a greatly +improved supply of army clothing. Contracts were secured from the war +office for khaki cloth, blankets, and various kinds of hosiery, and +these were carried out by manufacturers who otherwise would have had +to close down. + +The Queen gave orders for her own gifts to the troops, and +considerable work was done through trade workshops, care being taken +to see that this work was only done where ordinary trade was fully +employed. Two contracts from the War Office, typical of others, were +for 20,000 shirts and for 2,000,000 pairs of army socks. Over 130 +firms received contracts through the committee. + +New openings for trades were tested and the possibility of the +transference of work formerly done in Germany. + +In its Relief Work the committee had its greatest problems. It was +clear that if rates paid were high, women would come in from badly +paid trades, and it was clear that if they sold the work, it would +injure trade--so in the end it was decided to pay a low wage, 11/6 a +week--and to give away, through the right agencies, the garments and +things made in the workrooms. + +The inefficiency of many workers was very clear and training +schemes resulted--for typing, shorthand, in leather work, chair seat +willowing, in cookery, dressmaking and dress-cutting, home nursing, +etc. + +Professional women were helped through various funds and workrooms +were established by other organizations, several being started in +London by the N.U.W.S.S. + +[Illustration: CLEANING A LOCOMOTIVE] + +[Illustration: WOMEN AS CARRIAGE CLEANERS] + +As the months went on women began to be absorbed more and more into +industry. Men were going into the army ceaselessly, our war needs were +growing greater and our women found work opening out more and more. +The Women's Service Bureau had been opened within a week of the +outbreak of war and had done valuable work in placing women, before +the Board of Trade issued its first official appeal to women, +additional to those already in industry, to volunteer for War Service. +It was sent out by Mr. Runciman, President of the Board of Trade, and +read as follows: + + The President of the Board of Trade wishes to call attention + to the fact that in the present emergency, if the full + fighting power of the nation is to be put forth on the field + of battle, the full working power of the nation must be made + available to carry on its essential trades at home. Already, + in certain important occupations there are not enough men and + women to do the work. This shortage will certainly spread + to other occupations as more and more men join the fighting + forces. + + In order to meet both the present and the future needs of + national industry during the war, the Government wish to + obtain particulars of the women available, with or without + previous training, for paid employment. Accordingly, they + invite all women who are prepared, if needed, to take paid + employment of any kind--industrial, agricultural, clerical, + etc.--to enter themselves upon the Register of Women for War + Service which is being prepared by the Board of Trade Labour + Exchanges. + + Any woman living in a town where there is a Labour Exchange + can register by going there in person. If she is not near a + Labour Exchange she can get a form of registration from the + local agency of the Unemployment Fund. Forms will also be sent + out through a number of women's societies. + + The object of registration is to find out what reserve force + of women's labour, trained or untrained, can be made available + if required. As from time to time actual openings for + employment present themselves, notice will be given through + the Labor Exchanges, with full details as to the nature of + work, conditions, and pay, and, so far as special training + is necessary, arrangements will, if possible, be made for the + purpose. + + Any woman who by working helps to release a man or to equip a + man for fighting does national war service. Every woman should + register who is able and willing to take employment. + +The forms were sent out in large numbers through the women's societies +of the country, and it was stated on them that women were wanted +at once for farm-work, dairy work, brush-making, leather stitching, +clothing, machinery and machining for armaments. + +By next day the registrations were 4,000, mostly middle-class women, +and in the first week 20,000 registered and an average of 5,000 a week +after, but the mass of women who registered waited with no real lead +or use of them for a long time. The Government seemed to suffer from +a delusion a great many people have, that if you have enough machinery +and masses of names something is being done, but you do not solve any +problem by registers. You solve it by getting the workers and the work +together. + +The Government had not approached employers at first, but had left +it to them entirely to take the initiative in this great replacement. +This they had to a considerable extent done, using the Labour +Exchanges and the other agencies and women were more and more quickly, +steadily, ceaselessly replacing men. + +The appeals for women for munition work were most swiftly responded to +and educated women volunteered in thousands, as did working girls and +women. + +The question of assisting employment by fitting more women for +commercial and industrial occupations was considered by the +Government, and in October, 1915, the Clerical and Commercial +Occupations Committee was appointed by the Home Office--a similar +committee being set up for Scotland. It arranged with the London +County Council and with local authorities that their Education +Committees should initiate emergency courses all over the country for +training in general clerical work, bookkeeping and office routine. The +courses lasted from three to ten weeks, and the age of the students +varied from eighteen to thirty-five. + +Many free courses were inaugurated by business firms in large London +stores, notably Harrods and Whiteleys, where their courses included +all office and business training. Six week courses of free training +for the grocery trade, for the boot trade, lens making, waiting, +hairdressing, etc., were also given. + +Our woman labor has been found to be quite mobile and girls have moved +in thousands from one part of the country to another, and the munition +girl travelling home on holiday on her special permit is a familiar +figure. + +The registration, placing and moving of our workers is all done by +our Labour Exchanges, now renamed Employment Exchanges and transferred +from the Board of Trade to the Ministry of Labour. + +When the National Service Department was set up, a Women's Branch +was established with Mrs. H.J. Tennant, and Miss Violet Markham as +Co-directors, and they made various appeals, registered women for the +land, munitions, W.A.A.C. and for wood cutting and pitprop making. +A great demonstration of "Women's Service" was held in the Albert +Hall in January 17, 1917, at which Mrs. Tennant and Miss Markham, +Lord Derby, Minister of War; Mr. Prothero, President of the Board of +Agriculture, and Mr. John Hodge, Minister of Labour, spoke and at +which the Queen was present. It was an appeal to women for more work +and a registration of their determination to go on doing all that was +needed. The men's message was one to equals--they asked great things. +A message from Queen Mary was read for the first time at any public +meeting and it was the only occasion on which she has attended one. + +The number of women now in our industry directly replacing men, +according to our latest returns, is over one and a quarter millions. +This does not include domestic service, where our maids grow less and +less numerous and Sir Auckland Geddes, Director of National Service, +tells us he is considering cutting down servants in any establishment +to not more than three, and it does not include very small shops and +firms. + +The processes in industry in which women work are numbered in +hundreds. The War Office in 1916 issued an official memorandum for +the use of Military Representatives and Tribunals setting forth the +processes in which women worked and the trades and occupations, and +giving photographs of women doing unaccustomed and heavy work, to +guide the Tribunals in deciding exemptions of men called up for +Military Service. + +In professional work today women are everywhere. There are 198,000 +women in Government Departments, 83,000 of these new since the war. +They are doing typing, shorthand, and secretarial work, organizing and +executive work. They are in the Censor's office in large numbers and +doing important work at the Census of Production. There are 146,000 on +Local Government work. The woman teacher has invaded that stronghold +of man in England, the Boys' High and Grammar Schools, and is doing +good work there. They are replacing men chemists in works, doing +research, working at dental mechanics, are tracing plans. They are +driving motor cars in large numbers. Our Prime Minister has a woman +chauffeur. They are driving delivery vans and bringing us our goods, +our bread and our milk. They carry a great part of our mail and trudge +through villages and cities with it. They drive our mail vans, and +I know two daughters of a peer who drive mail vans in London. I know +other women who never did any work in their lives who for three years +have worked in factories, taking the same work, the same holidays, the +same pay as the other girls. Women are gardeners, elevator attendants, +commissionaires and conductors on our buses and trams, and in +provincial towns drive many of the electric trams. + +[Illustration: WINDOW CLEANERS] + +[Illustration: STEAM ROLLER DRIVER] + +In the railways they are booking clerks, carriage and engine cleaners +and greasers, and carriage repairers, cooks and waiters in dining +cars, platform, parcel and goods porters, telegraphists and ticket +collectors and inspectors, and labourers and wagon sheet repairers. +They work in quarries, are coal workers, clean ships, are park-keepers +and cinema operators. They are commercial travellers in large numbers. +They are in banks to a great extent and are now taking banking +examinations. + +There was a very strong feeling as the replacement by women went on +that there must be no lowering of wage standards which would not only +be grossly unfair to women but imperil the returning soldier's chance +of getting his post back. + +Mrs. Fawcett, on behalf of the Women's Interests Committee of the +N.U.W.S.S., called a conference on the question of War Service and +wages in 1915, and Mr. Runciman stated at the conference: + + As regards the wages and conditions on which women should be + employed, as a general principle the Exchanges did not, and + could not, take direct responsibility as to the wages and + conditions, beyond giving in each case such information as + was in their possession. In regard, however, to Government + contractors, it had been laid down that the piece rates for + women should be the same as for men, and further special + instructions had been given to the Exchanges to inform + inexperienced applicants of the current wages in each case, + so that they should be fully apprised as to the wage which it + was reasonable for them to ask. A general safeguard against + permanent lowering of wages by the admission of women to take + the place of men on service would be made by asking employers, + so far as possible, to keep the men's places open for them on + their return. + +Wages in most cases are at the same rate as men, and as women are +organized in Britain in large numbers, the Trades Unions and Women's +Committees are always alive and ready to act on the question of +payment and conditions. Our workers, men and women, are very well paid +and despite high prices, were never more comfortable, and never saved +more. The call for women to replace men still goes on in Britain. +Miners are going to be combed out again. The Trade Unions have been +again approached by the Premier and Sir Auckland Geddes on this +question of man power. The Battalions must be filled up--in France we +need 2,000,000 men all the time and of these 1,670,000 are from our +own Islands. + +It is calculated there are in Britain today--Ireland is not tapped in +woman power any more than in man power--less than a million women who +could do more important work for the war than they are now doing. +Most of these are already doing work of one kind or another, but could +probably do more. + +Our homes, our industries, munitions, the land, hospitals, Government +service and the Waac's are absorbing us in our millions. Britain could +not have raised her Army and Navy and could not now keep her men in +the field without the mobilization of her women and their ceaseless, +tireless work behind her men, and as substitutes for them, in the +working life of the community. + + + + +WOMEN IN MUNITIONS + + + "For all we have and are, + For all our children's fate-- + Rise up and meet the war, + The Hun is at the gate. + + * * * * * + + "Comfort, content, delight, + The ages' slow-bought gain, + Have shrivelled in a night, + Only ourselves remain. + + * * * * * + + "Though all we knew depart, + The old commandments stand, + In courage keep your heart, + In strength lift up your hand." + + --RUDYARD KIPLING. + + + + +CHAPTER VI + +WOMEN IN MUNITIONS + + "Hats off to the Women of Britain!"--Sir ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE in + _The Times_, November 28, 1916. + + +When war broke out the Government had three National workshops +producing munitions--today it has 100, and it controls over 5,000 +establishments through the Ministry of Munitions, many of which are +continually growing in size. + +The total output has increased over thirty-fold but in many cases +increase in production has been far greater. In guns, the production +of 4.5 field howitzers is over fifty times as large; of machine guns +and howitzers over seventy times and of heavy howitzers (over 6 inch) +over 420 times as large. + +More small shell is now made in a fortnight than formerly in a year, +and the increase in output of heavy shell has been still larger. +Equally striking results have been attained in the production of +machine guns, aeroplanes motor bodies, and the other war supplies, for +which demand and replacement have necessarily grown with the demand +for guns and shells. To these have to be added the ships and the +anti-submarine and anti-aircraft machines and devices that have been +demanded by the enemy's method of warfare. + +This work has only been possible in a country that has raised five +million men, 75 per cent from our own islands, because of what women +have done. + +Today there are between 800,000 and 1,000,000 women in munitions works +in our country, and the history of their entry and work is a wonderful +one. Women themselves were quicker than the Government to realize how +much they would be needed in munitions, and started to train before +openings were ready. + +Women realized vividly what Lloyd George's speech of June, 1915, made +clear, the urgent, terrible need of our men for more munitions--the +Germans could send over ten shells to our one--and women volunteered +in thousands for munition work. + +The London Society for Women's Suffrage, which was running "Women's +Service," had women volunteers for munitions in enormous numbers and +tried to secure openings for them. It investigated and found that +acetylene welders were badly needed. There were very few in Britain, +and welding is essential for aircraft and other work, so they started +to find out if there were classes for training women, and found none +in Technical Schools were open to women. They found welders were +needed very much in certain aircraft factories in the neighborhood of +London and the manager of one assured them that if women were trained +satisfactorily for oxy-acetylene welding, he would give them a trial. +So "Women's Service" decided to open a small workshop and secured Miss +E.C. Woodward, a metal worker of long standing, as instructor. The +school was started in a small way with six pupils. Oxy-acetylene +welding is the most effective way of securing a perfect weld without +any deleterious effect upon the metal. + +The great heat needed for the purpose of uniting two or more pieces of +metal so as to make of them an autogenous whole is obtained, in this +process, by the burning of acetylene gas in conjunction with oxygen. + +Carbide, looking like little lumps of granite, is placed in a tray at +the bottom of the generator for acetylene gas, which is of the form +of a small portable gasometer. The tap, admitting water to the carbide +trays, is turned on, and gas at once generates, and forces up the +generator in the way so familiar to those who often see a gasometer. +This gas passes through a tube to the blow-pipe of the welder, or to +any other use for which it is destined. + +[Illustration: TRAINING WOMEN AS AEROPLANE BUILDERS] + +In oxy-acetylene welding, the process employs the flame produced by +the combustion in a suitable blow-pipe of oxygen and acetylene. When +a light is applied to the nozzle of the pipe a yellow flame, a foot +long, flares up, and in the centre of it, close to the nozzle, appears +a very small, dazzling, bluish flame, which can only safely be gazed +upon by eyes protected by coloured glasses. The temperature of this +flame at the apex is about 6,300 degrees Fahr., and it is with this +that the metals to be welded together are brought to a suitable degree +of heat. + +The workers' eyes are protected by black goggles, their hair confined +by caps or handkerchiefs, and overalls or leather-aprons protect their +clothes from the sparks and also from the smuts which naturally +accrue on surrounding objects. Each welder holds in her right hand the +blow-pipe of the craft, from which depends two long flexible tubes, +one conducting oxygen from the tall cylinder in the corner, and the +other acetylene from the generator. In her left hand she holds the +welding-stick of soft Swedish iron, from which tiny molten drops fall +upon the glowing edges of the metal to be welded together. The work +is fascinating even to the onlooker, and to see the result, metal so +welded you feel it is impossible it ever could have been two pieces, +is still more fascinating. + +The first welders triumphantly passed their tests and gave every +satisfaction in the factory, and the training went on and the School +was enlarged. + +The oxy-acetylene welders turned out by this School have gone all +over the country and 220 were trained and placed in the first year. +Those selected were, with few exceptions, educated women, which was +undoubtedly a material factor in the success of their work. This +School opened training to women and welding is now taught to women in +many of our Technical Schools. A class in Elementary Engineering has +also been carried on by Women's Service with great success and the +women placed in workshops. + +The Ministry of Munitions has also arranged, in conjunction with the +London County Council and other Educational Authorities, to have +free munition training for women at every centre in the Kingdom. The +courses vary from six to nine weeks and maintenance grants are paid +during the period of training. + +In October, 1915, the Central Labour Supply Committee which dealt +with women's and men's conditions, issued certain recommendations +in Circular L.2. These dealt with the conditions and rates of pay +of women and fully skilled and unskilled men. The provision of this +much-discussed circular that affected women doing skilled work was +in Clause 1, which provides that "Women employed on work customarily +done by fully skilled tradesmen shall be paid the time rates of the +tradesman whose work they undertake." + +These provisions were then only binding on the Government +establishments, and could not be enforced by the Ministry of Munitions +in controlled establishments. On December 31, 1915, a conference +was held between the Prime Minister, the Minister of Munitions and +representatives of the Amalgamated Society of Engineers, when an +agreement in regard to "dilution" was arranged. Circular L. 2 was +adopted at this conference as the basis of the undertaking given by +the Ministry in regard to dilution of labor. An employer under it can +be punished as contravening the Munitions Act if he fails to carry out +the direction of the Minister. The power of enforcing the provisions +of L. 2 were acquired in January, 1916, and it is quite obvious that +in this circular a principle of the greatest importance to men and +women is laid down. Women were wholly averse to being "blacklegs" in +industry. + +The great work of "Dilution" in Munitions--and by dilution we mean +the use in industry of unskilled, semi-skilled and woman labor, so +that highly skilled men may not be used except for the most important +work--is done by the Dilution Department of the Ministry of Munitions, +which issues Dilution of Labour Bulletins and Process Sheets +periodically, showing the work women are doing. A series of +exhibitions of women's work have also been arranged by the Technical +Section of the Labour Supply Department in all the big towns +in England. In Sheffield over 16,000 people came to see the +Exhibition--the largest number of these being foremen and workmen sent +by their firms. + +[Illustration: RIVETTING ON BOILERS] + +[Illustration: FACING BOILER BLUE FLANGES] + +The Exhibitions consist of two main sections, one of which shows +actual samples of munitions made by women, and the other of +photographs of women doing work on apparatus or processes that could +not be shown. A complete Clerget engine, for instance, was lent by the +Air Board to illustrate the final assembly of the numerous parts of +these engines being made wholly or partly by women. In the same way, +many parts of complete Stokes Guns, Vickers Machine Guns and Service +Rifles were exhibited. The exhibits were divided into fifteen groups. +The first group dealing with engines for aircraft. The second group +showed engines for motor cars, tanks, tractors, motor buses, motor +lorries and motor vehicles. + +A separate group consisted of a variety of accessories for internal +combustion engines, including air pump for the Clerget engine, which +is completely manufactured and assembled by women, largely under women +supervision; and magnetos, a very important and accurate industry, +before the war largely in German hands, of which women now undertake +the entire manufacture. + +The fourth group dealt with steam engines, including details of +locomotives, high speed engines, steam winches, and steam turbines. + +The next two groups dealt respectively with guns and components and +with small arms. + +The next three groups included gauges, drills, cutters, punches and +dies, trucks, jigs, tap pieces and general tool-room work. The gauges +included plug, ring, cylinder and screw gauges to the closest degrees +of accuracy, which in practice are verified by the rigid inspection of +the National Physical Laboratory. + +A fair illustration of the accuracy that is habitually required in a +large volume of work is to be seen in the final gauging and inspection +of a screw gauge for a fuse, in which the women inspectors were +described in the catalogue as examining these screws by an optical +projection apparatus, magnifying fifty times, with the help of which +the inspector notes the defects in size and form, and the necessary +corrections. + +The cutting tools included sets of cutters for the manufacture of +shells, as well as twist drills, reamers, milling cutters, gear +cutters, screwing dies, taps and lathe tools. Some of this work is +of high accuracy, and a set of solid screwing dies has the particular +interest that almost all the operations are carried out by women after +they have been in the shop for a fortnight. The general tool-room +work included an exhibit of seventy-one punches and dies for cartridge +making. Another set of dies was shown for small-arms ammunition, and +specimens were also exhibited of chucks, die-heads and other work. + +Two other groups dealt with the metal fittings and wooden structural +parts of aircraft, and to see girls work on these is intensely +interesting--anything more fragile looking and more beautiful than the +long uncovered wing it would be difficult to find. A notable feature +of the metal group was a number of parts that are marked off from +drawings by women working under a woman charge-hand, and themselves +making their own scribing-templates when necessary. Many examples of +welding work were also shown. + +There were Optical Munitions and medical and surgical glass and X-ray +tubes made entirely by women, and the Exhibitions record the progress +of women in Munitions in the most wonderful and striking way. + +Mr. Ben. H. Morgan, Chief Officer, in a recent speech on Munitions and +Production said: + + "Labor had to be found to staff the thousands of factories in + which this stupendous production was to be carried out, and it + has been possible to find it only by subdividing work closely, + and entrusting a large variety of machinery and fitting to + women, with the help of the fullest possible equipment of jigs + and all available appliances for mechanically defining and + facilitating the work, and of instruction by skilled men. + By this means an output has been obtained that will compare + favorably with that of any class of workers in any country. + Comparing, for instance, our women's figures of output on + certain sizes of shell and types of fuses with those of men in + the United States, I found recently that the women's machining + times were not only as good but in many cases better than + those of men in some of the best organized American shops. + + "This is an extraordinary result to have been obtained from + women who, for the most part, had never known either the work + or the discipline of factory life, and were wholly unused + to mechanical operations. More than one circumstance has + doubtless contributed to making it possible; but it is my + assured conviction that foremost among the incentives by + which women have been helped has been their constant thought + of their flesh and blood, their husbands, brothers, sons, + sweethearts, in the trenches. I know a typical example in a + Yorkshire mother, who early in the war sent her only son to + the fighting line. The lad was a skilled mechanic, and she + took his place at his lathe in the Leeds shops where he + worked. She is not only keeping this job going, but her output + on the job she is doing is a record for the whole country." + +The women workers' productions has been admirable and is steady +and continues so. The _Manchester Guardian_ of November 15, 1915, +astounded women and men alike by its announcement that "figures were +produced in proof of the very startling assertion that the output of +the women munition workers is slightly more than double that of men." + +In the latest Dilution of Labour Bulletin this is recorded: + +"A GOOD BEGINNING + + "A firm in the London and South Eastern district making + propellers for aeroplanes has recently begun the employment of + women, and the results are exceeding all expectations. As an + instance it is reported that five women are now doing the work + of scraping, formerly done by six men, with an increase of 70 + per cent in output." + +The way in which managers, foremen and skilled men have trained and +helped the women and work with them cannot be too highly praised--the +success of "dilution"--the ability of women to help their country in +this way, was only possible through the good will and co-operation of +our great Trade Unions and skilled men. + +Women supervisors and examiners are trained at Woolwich, and the first +of these were found by "Women's Service," and we find women control +and manage large numbers of women in the big works extremely well. +One girl of twenty-three, the daughter of a famous engineer, is +controlling the work of 6,000 women who are working on submarines, +guns, aircraft, and all manner of munitions. + +One great engineer who believes in women and women's future in +engineering has started what we might term an engineering college for +women. + +He has built a model factory away in the hills "somewhere in Scotland" +with four tiers of ferro-cement floors. It is built with the idea of +taking 300 women students and eight months after it opened, it had +sixty women students. It is a factory entirely for women, run by, +and to a large extent managed by women, with the exception of two men +instructors. In the ground floor the girls are working at parts of +high power aeroplane engines, under their works superintendent, a +woman who took her Mathematical Tripos at Newnham College, and was +lecturer at one of our girls' public schools. The women rank as +engineer apprentices and their hours are forty-four a week. The first +six months are probationary with pay at 20/- ($5) a week, and the +students are doing extremely well. + +"Women are now part and parcel of our great army," said the Earl of +Derby, on July 13, 1916, "without them it would be impossible for +progress to be made, but with them I believe victory can be assured." + +[Illustration: ROUGH TURNING JACKET FORGING OF 6-POUNDER, HOTCHKISS +GUN] + +Mr. Asquith, too, has paid his tribute to the woman munition maker +and to others who are doing men's work. In a memorable speech on +the Second Reading of the Special Register Bill, he admitted that +the women of this country have rendered as effective service in the +prosecution of the war as any other class of the community. "It is +true they cannot fight in the gross material sense of going out with +rifles and so forth, but they fill our munition factories, they are +doing the work which the men who are fighting had to perform before, +they have taken their places, they are the servants of the State and +they have aided in the most effective way in the prosecution of the +war." + +Our munition women are in the shipyards, the engineering shops, the +aeroplane sheds, the shell shops, flocking in thousands into the +cities, leaving homes and friends to work in the munition cities we +have built since the war. When our great arsenals and factories empty, +women pour out in thousands. Night and day they have worked as the men +have and it has been no easy or light task. We know that still more +will be demanded of us, but we think, as our four million men do, that +these things are well worth doing for the freedom of the souls of the +nations. + +In the munition factories that feeling and conviction burns like a +flame and the enemy who thinks to demoralize our men and our women by +bombing our homes and our workshops finds the workers, men and women, +only made more determined. + +The women handle high explosives in the "danger buildings" for ten and +a half hours in a shift, making and inserting the detonating fuses, +where a slip may result in their own death and that of their comrades. +Working with T.N.T. they turn yellow--hands and face and hair--and +risk poisoning. They are called the "canary girls," and if you ask why +they do it they will tell you it isn't too much to risk when men risk +everything in the trenches--and sometimes the one they cared for most +is in a grave in France or on some other front, and they "carry on." + +The Prime Minister paid a tribute to munition makers in one of his +speeches when he said: + +"I remember perfectly well when I was Minister of Munitions we had +very dangerous work. It involved a special alteration in one +element of our shells. We had to effect that alteration. If we had +manufactured the whole thing anew it would have involved the loss of +hundreds of thousands of rounds of ammunition at a time when we could +not afford it. But the adaptation of the old element with a fuse is a +very dangerous operation, and there were several fatal accidents. It +was all amongst the women workers in the munition factories; there +was never a panic. They stuck to their work. They knew the peril. They +never ran away from it." + + + + +THE PROTECTION OF WOMEN IN INDUSTRY + + + "Are our faces grave, and our eyes intent? + Is every ounce that is in us bent + On the uttermost pitch of accomplishment? + _Though it's long and long the day is._ + Ah! we know what it means if we fool or slack; + --A rifle jammed--and one comes not back; + And we never forget--it's for us they gave. + And so we will slave, and slave, and slave, + Lest the men at the front should rue it. + Their all they gave, and their lives we'll save, + If the hardest of work can do it;-- + _Though it's long and long the day is._" + + --JOHN OXENHAM. + + + + +CHAPTER VII + +THE PROTECTION OF WOMEN IN INDUSTRY + + +The Ministry of Munitions has a great department devoted to the work +of looking after our workers' interests. + +This department of the Ministry was established by Mr. Lloyd George. +Mr. Rowntree, whose work is so well known, was put in charge. + +The health of the Munition Workers' Committee was set up when the +Ministry was established with the concurrence of the Home Secretary, +"To consider and advise on questions of industrial fatigue, hours of +labor, and other matters affecting the personal health and physical +efficiency of workers in munition factories and work shops." + +Sir George Newman, M.D., is chairman of the committee and the two +women members are Mrs. H.J. Tennant and Miss R.E. Squire. Memoranda +on various industrial problems have been drawn up by the committee and +acted upon--the first being on Sunday labour. + +In the early part of the war our men and women frequently worked +seven days in the week and shifts were very long for women as for +men. Practically no holidays were taken in answer to Lord Kitchener's +appeals. The regulations preventing women from working on Sunday had +been removed in a limited number of cases. The investigation of the +committee in November, 1915, showed that Sunday labor when it meant +excessive hours was bad and it did not increase output, that the +strain on foremen and managers in particular was very great, and they +recommended a modification of the policy. + +In a later Memorandum, No. 12, on output in relation to hours of work, +very interesting figures were given, practically all showing increased +output as a result of shorter hours of labor. + +The committee reported in Memorandum No. 5 that it was of the opinion +that continuous work by women in excess of the normal legal limit of +sixty hours per week ought to be discontinued as soon as practicable, +and that the shift system should be used instead of overtime. + +A special Memorandum, No. 4, was entirely concerned with the +employment of women and dealt with hours, conditions, rest and meals, +management and supervision, and it strongly urged every precaution and +protection for women. + +The Welfare Department meantime had started on its work of securing, +training and appointing Welfare Supervisors, Miss Alleyne looking +after that branch of the work. + +The Department was "charged, with the general responsibility of +securing a high standard of conditions" for the workers. + +The growth of the work has been enormous. The Ministry of Munitions +today has large numbers of Welfare Supervisors with every Government +establishment and the controlled establishments have them also. +In Government shops they are paid by the Ministry, in controlled +establishments by the management and their appointment is notified to +the Welfare Department. + +The Ministry has issued a leaflet on "Duties of Welfare Supervisors +for Women," which is given at the end of this chapter. + +It will be seen that the Welfare Worker must be a rather wonderful +person. She must be tactful, know how to handle girls, and be a person +of judgment and decision. We have succeeded in securing a very large +number of admirable women and excellent work is being done. The +Welfare Workers are in their turn inspected by Welfare Inspectors and +Miss Proud, the Chief Inspector in dangerous factories, who sees the +precautions against risk of poisoning from Tri-nitro-toluol, Tetryl, +the aeroplane wing dope, etc., are all carried out by the management, +has written an admirable textbook on welfare work. The country for +this purpose is divided into nine areas, and two women inspectors work +in each. + +Woolwich Arsenal is one of our great centres of women's work and +the Chief Welfare Supervisor there, Miss Lilian Barker, is the most +capable woman Supervisor in Britain, a statesman among Supervisors. +Any visitor to the Arsenal cannot help being struck by the general +impression of contentment, happiness and health of the woman worker +there in her thousands. It is rare to see a sickly face among them, +even among the girls in the Danger Zone. Miss Barker is constantly +adding to her own staff of supervisors and training others for +provincial centres. She and her Assistants interview new hands +and arrange changes and transfers of women. She enquires into +all complaints, advises as to clothing, keeps an eye on the vast +canteen organization of Woolwich, and initiates schemes for +recreation--notices of whist drives, dances and concerts are +constantly up on the boards. The housing of the immigrant workers--no +small problem, she and her assistants deal with. They suggest +improvements in conditions and are awake to signs of illness or +overfatigue. They follow the worker home and look after the young +mother and the sick girl and women. + +Hostels have been built there and all over the country by the +Government and by factory owners, and the Hostel Supervisors have a +big and useful work to do. + +They are very well arranged with a room for each girl and nice rest +rooms, dining rooms and good sickroom accommodations. Rules are cut +down to a minimum. Most Supervisors find out ways of working without +them. + +"Smoking is allowed at this end of the restroom," said one +Superintendent, "but since we have permitted this recreation, it seems +to have fallen out of favour," which seems to show munition girls are +very human. + +Hutments have also been built for married couples. Lodgings are +inspected and when suitable, scheduled for workers coming to the area. +In some cases the management in private factories do not adopt formal +welfare workers but get a woman of the right type and put her in +charge of the female operatives, with generally excellent results. +The value of the influence of this work on our girls cannot be +over-estimated--it is an influence of the very best kind, and our +experiences in munition and welfare work, every class of women working +together, is going to be of great and permanent good. + +[Illustration: AN OFFICIAL BOOKLET FOR MUNITION WORKERS] + +The professional woman and the girls who flock to London in large +numbers for work in Government Departments, must be housed also, and +there are many extremely good Hostels. Bedford House, the old Bedford +College for Women, is now a delightful Hostel run by the Y.W.C.A., +whose work for munition girls deserves very special mention. They had +Hostels over the country before the war and have added to these. They +have set up Clubs all over the country for the girls in munitions and +industry in 150 centres, and these are very much appreciated and used +by thousands of girls. + +The feeding of the munition worker is another great piece of work. +It started, like so many of our things, in voluntary effort. The +conditions of the men and women working all night and without any +possibility of getting anything warm to eat and drink and, exhausted +with their heavy work, made people feel something must be done, and +the first efforts were to send round barrows with hot tea and coffee +and sandwiches, etc. More and more it was realized that the provision +of proper meals for the workers, men and women, was indispensable for +the maintenance of output on which our fighting forces depended for +their very lives--and the Government, the Y.M.C.A., the Y.W.C.A. and +various other agencies, started to establish canteens. The Y.W.C.A. +alone in its canteens serves 80,000 meals a week. Large numbers of +private firms have established their own canteens. + +The Health of Munition Workers Committee reported, in November, 1915, +that it was extremely desirable to establish canteens in every factory +in which it would be useful. Many canteens existed before the war, +but they have been added to enormously and the recommendations of the +committee as to accessibility, attractiveness, form, food and service +carried out. + +The Canteen Committee of the Liquor Control Board who have looked +after this work have issued an admirable official pamphlet, "Feeding +the Munition Worker," in which plans for construction and all details +are given. An ideal canteen should always provide facilities for the +worker to heat his or her own food. + +The prices are very reasonable, and in most cases only cover cost of +food and service, soup and bread is 4 cents--cut from joint and two +vegetables, 12 to 16 cents. + + Puddings, 2 to 4 cents, + Bread and cheese, 3 to 4 cents, + Tea, coffee and cocoa, 2 cents a cup, + +and a variety is arranged in the week's menu. + +The Y.W.C.A. Huts are very popular. In some of them the girls get +dinners for 10 cents, and the dinner includes joint, vegetables and +pudding. + +There are comfortable chairs in them in which girls can rest and +attractive magazines and books to read in the little restrooms. The +workers in charge of these canteens are educated women and the waiting +and service is done by voluntary helpers. There is not only excellent +feeding for our workers in these canteens, but there is great economy +in food and fuel. To cook 400 dinners together is much less wasteful +than to cook them separately, and the cooks in these are generally +trained economists. + +The children, too, are not forgotten. Our welfare workers follow the +young mother home and find out if the children are all right and well +taken care of. We have done even more in the war than before for +our babies and the infant death rate is falling. We have established +excellent creches and nurseries where they are needed. + +It is impossible to overestimate the value of all this work in +industry. The Prime Minister, speaking last year on this subject, +said, "It is a strange irony, but no small compensation, that the +making of weapons of destruction should afford the occasion to +humanize industry. Yet such is the case. Old prejudices have vanished, +new ideas are abroad; employers and workers, the public and the State, +are all favourable to new methods. The opportunity must not be allowed +to slip. It may well be that, when the tumult of war is a distant echo +and the making of munitions a nightmare of the past, the effort now +being made to soften asperities, to secure the welfare of the workers, +and to build a bridge of sympathy and understanding between employer +and employed, will have left behind results of permanent and enduring +value to the workers, to the nation and to mankind at large." + +I am no believer in the gloomy predictions of industrial revolutions +after the war. We will have revolutions--but of the right kind and one +thing has been clearly shown, that the workers of our country are +not only loyal citizens but realize every issue of this conflict as +vividly as anyone else. On their work, men and women, our Navy, our +Army and our country, have depended--and they have not failed us in +any real thing. + + +MINISTRY OF MUNITIONS. + + + +DUTIES OF WELFARE SUPERVISORS FOR WOMEN. + +(Sometimes called EMPLOYMENT SUPERINTENDENTS.) + + + + NOTE.--It is not suggested that all these duties should be + imposed upon the Employment Superintendent directly she is + appointed. The size of the Factory will to a certain extent + determine the scope of her work, and in assigning her duties + regard will of course be had to her professional ability to + cope with them. + + These officers are responsible solely to the firms that employ + them, and in no sense to the Ministry of Munitions. + + + +The experience which has now been obtained in National and other +Factories making munitions of war has demonstrated that the post of +Welfare Supervisor is a valuable asset to Factory management wherever +women are employed. Through this channel attention has been drawn to +conditions of work, previously unnoted, which were inimical to the +well-being of those employed. The following notes have, therefore, +been prepared for the information of employers who have not hitherto +engaged such officers, but who desire to know the position a Welfare +Supervisor should take and the duties and authority which, it is +suggested, might be delegated to her. + + +POSITION. + +It has generally been found convenient that the Welfare Supervisor +should be directly responsible to the General Manager, and should be +given a definite position on the managerial staff in connection with +the Labour Employment Department of the Factory. She is thus able to +refer all matters calling for attention direct to the General Manager, +and may be regarded by him as a liaison between him and the various +Departments dealing with the women employees. + + +DUTIES. + +The duty of a Welfare Supervisor is to obtain and to maintain a +healthy staff of workers and to help in maintaining satisfactory +conditions for the work. + +In order to obtain a staff satisfactory both from the point of view of +health and technical efficiency, it has been found to be an advantage +to bring the Welfare Supervisor into the business of selecting women +and girls for employment. + + +I. THE OBTAINING OF A HEALTHY STAFF. + +Her function is to consider the general health, physical capacity and +character of each applicant. As regards those under 16 years of +age, she could obtain useful advice as to health from the Certifying +Surgeon when he grants Certificates of fitness. The Management can, if +they think fit, empower her to refer for medical advice to their panel +Doctor, other applicants concerning whose general fitness she is in +doubt. This selection of employees furnishes the Welfare Supervisor +with a valuable opportunity for establishing a personal link with the +workers. + +Her function is thus concerned with selection on general grounds, +while the actual engaging of those selected may be carried out by the +Overlooker or other person responsible for the technical side of +the work. In this way both aspects of appointment receive full +consideration. + +The Management may find further that it is useful to consult the +Welfare Supervisor as to promotions of women in the Factory, thus +continuing the principle of regarding not only technical efficiency +but also general considerations in the control of the women in the +Factory. + + +II. THE MAINTAINING OF A HEALTHY STAFF. + +The Welfare Supervisor should ascertain what are the particular needs +of the workers. These needs will then be found to group themselves +under two headings: + + (a) Needs within the Factory--Intramural Welfare. + + (b) Needs outside the Factory--Extramural Welfare. + + +INTRAMURAL WELFARE. + +I. SUPERVISION OF WORKING CONDITIONS. + +The Welfare Supervisor may be made responsible for the following +matters: + + (a) _General behaviour of women and girls inside the + factory._--While responsibility for the technical side of + the work must rest with the Technical Staff, the Welfare + Supervisor should be responsible for all questions of general + behaviour. + + (b) _Transfer._--The Welfare Supervisor would, if the health + of a woman was affected by the particular process on which + she is engaged, be allowed, after having consulted the Foreman + concerned, to suggest to the Management the possibility of + transfer of the woman to work more suited to her state of + health. + + (c) _Night Supervision._--The Welfare Supervisor should have + a deputy for night work and should herself occasionally visit + the Factory at night to see that satisfactory conditions are + maintained. + + (d) _Dismissal._--It will be in keeping with the general + suggestions as to the functions of the Welfare Supervisor + if she is consulted on general grounds with regard to the + dismissal of women and girls. + + (e) _The maintenance of healthy conditions._--This implies + that she should, from the point of view of the health of the + female employees, see to the general cleanliness, ventilation + and warmth of the Factory and keep the Management informed of + the results of her observations. + + (f) _The provision of seats._--She should study working + conditions so as to be able to bring to the notice of the + Management the necessity for the provision of seats where + these are possible. + + +II. CANTEEN. + +Unless the Factory is a small one it would hardly be possible for the +Welfare Supervisor to manage the canteen. The Management will probably +prefer to entrust the matter to an expert who should satisfy the +Management in consultation with the Welfare Supervisor on the +following matters:-- + + (1) That the Canteen provides all the necessary facilities for + the women workers; that is to say, suitable food, rapidly and + punctually served. + + (2) That Canteen facilities are provided when necessary for + the women before they begin work so that no one need start + work without having taken food. + + (3) That the Canteen is as restful and as comfortable as + possible so that it serves a double purpose of providing rest + as well as food. + + +III. SUPERVISION OF AMBULANCE RESTROOM AND FIRST AID. + +While not responsible for actually attending to accidents, except +in small Factories, the Welfare Supervisor should work in close +touch with the Factory Doctor and Nurses. She should, however, be +responsible for the following matters:-- + + (1) She should help in the selection of the Nurses, who should + be recognised as belonging to the Welfare staff. + + (2) While not interfering with the Nurses in the professional + discharge of their duties, she should see that their work is + carried out promptly and that the workers are not kept waiting + long before they receive attention. + + (3) She should supervise the keeping of all records of + accident and illness in the Ambulance Room. + + (4) She should keep in touch with all cases of serious + accident or illness. + +It would further be useful if she were allowed to be kept in touch +with the Compensation Department inside the Factory with a view to +advising on any cases of hardship that may arise. + + +IV. SUPERVISION OF CLOAK-ROOMS AND SANITARY CONVENIENCES. + +The Welfare Supervisor should be held responsible for the following +matters:-- + + (1) General cleanliness. + + (2) Prevention of Loitering. + + (3) Prevention of Pilfering. + +The Management will decide what staff is necessary to assist her, and +it should be her duty to report to the Management on these matters. + + +V. PROVISION OF OVERALLS. + +The Welfare Supervisor should have the duty of supervising the +Protective Clothing supplied to the women for their work. + + +EXTRAMURAL WELFARE. + +The Welfare Supervisor should keep in touch with all outside agencies +responsible for:-- + + (1) Housing. + + (2) Transit facilities. + + (3) Sickness and Maternity cases. + + (4) Recreation. + + (5) Day Nurseries. + +In communicating with any of these agencies it will no doubt be +preferable that she should do so through the Management. + + +III. RECORDS. + +_A_. The Welfare Supervisor should for the purpose of her work have +some personal records of every woman employee. If a card-index system +is adopted, a sample card suggesting the necessary particulars which +it is desirable should be kept by Welfare Supervisors is supplied to +employers on request. + +_B_. The Welfare Supervisor should have some way of observing the +health in relation to the efficiency of the workers, and if the +Management approved this could be done: + + (a) By allowing her to keep in touch with the Wages + Department. She could then watch the rise and fall of wages + earned by individual employees from the point of view that + a steady fall in earnings may be the first indication of an + impending breakdown in health. + + (b) By allowing her to keep in touch with the Time Office she + should be able to obtain records of all reasons for lost time. + From such records information can be obtained of sickness, + inadequate transit and urgent domestic duties, which might + otherwise not be discovered. Here again, if a card-index + system is adopted a sample card for this purpose can be + obtained from the Welfare and Health Section on request. + + (c) By keeping records of all cases of accident and sickness + occurring in the Factory. Sample Ambulance Books and Accident + Record Cards can also be obtained from the Welfare and Health + Section. + + + + +"THE WOMEN'S LAND ARMY" + + + "If it were not for the women, agriculture would be at an + absolute standstill on many farms in England and Wales today." + + --_President of the Board of Agriculture._ + + + + +CHAPTER VIII + +"THE WOMEN'S LAND ARMY" + + +The Land Army of Women, which now numbers over 258,300 whole and +part-time workers, has done splendid work. For some years before the +war women had been very little used on the land in certain parts of +England and Wales. In Scotland and in some of the English counties +there had always been, and still were, quite fair numbers of women on +the land. + +Within eighteen months of the outbreak of war, about 300,000 +agricultural laborers had enlisted and the work had been carried on +with difficulty by the farmer in the first year of the war. The farmer +secured all the labor he could, old men returned to help, and the army +released skilled men temporarily, from training, to help. Soldiers +were used in groups for seasonal work, the farmer paying a good rate +for them. Groups of women were also organized for seasonal work by +various voluntary organizations, two of these being the Land Council +and the Women's National Land Service Corps. The Women's Farm and +Garden Union also did good work. The Land Service Corps made one of +its most important objects the organization of village women into +working gangs under leaders. One interesting piece of work undertaken +by the Corps last year was finding a large number of women for +flax-pulling in Somerset. This the Flax-Growers' Association asked +them to do as sufficient local labor could not be raised. The War +Agricultural Committee made all the local arrangements. This was +pioneer work of great value and importance as flax is essential in the +making of aeroplane wings. + +The Corps sent a group of 100 women under competent gang leaders. +The workers were housed in an empty country house and the War Office +provided bedding. The Y.W.C.A. undertook the catering at the request +of the Corps. The work, which was a great success, consisted in +pulling, gating, wind mowing, stocking and tying flax. + +The Corps has already been asked to undertake this again next year. +Owing to the Russian troubles and the closing of the Port of Riga, it +will be necessary to put many more hundreds of acres under cultivation +and it is probable four or five times as many women will be needed +next year. + +Some of the Corps members are doing good work in Army Remount Depots, +working in the stables and exercising the horses. One of the latest +interesting developments of women's work is in the care of sick +horses, carried out in the Horse Hospital in London. + +Within nine months of the outbreak of war, it was clear we must secure +help for the farmers, in order to enable them to do their work. As the +submarine menace developed, and the supply of grain in the world was +affected by the numbers of men taken away from production, it was +clear we must try to grow more food. + +Our grain production at the best was only twelve weeks of our supply, +and even to keep up to that seemed to be a problem. + +It was clear that in agriculture, as in so many other things, women +must fill up the ranks, and in the first official appeal of the +Government for additional woman labor, the land had an important +place. + +Lord Selborne, President of the Board of Agriculture, drew up a +scheme for the organization of agriculture throughout the country. +It consisted of War Agricultural Committee set up in each county who +look after production, use of land, procuring use of motor machinery, +etc., and of Women's Agricultural Committees. The latter undertake the +organization of securing women workers for the land, choosing them, +and arranging for training and placing out. + +The voluntary groups of women who have been working at the problem in +the war are now practically all merged in the Board of Agriculture's +organization. The Women's Branch of the Food Production Department +now controls and arranged the whole work and Miss Meriel Talbot is the +able chief. + +The Women's Land Corps, like the other organizations, was prepared to +be merged in the new Land Army of the Board and to cease to exist as a +separate organization. Its members were willing to become part of the +new Land Army. + +The Board found there was a distinct need for a voluntary association +which would continue to enroll women, who could not sign on for the +duration of the war, and who were able to forego the benefits of free +training, outfit and travelling given under the Government scheme. +Over 100 members of the Corps did enroll and the original Corps +members do not require to appear before the local Selection Committees +nor to submit references, which marks the Board's confidence in the +Corps. + +Many of the Corps Workers are now organizing Secretaries for the +Counties or Assistant Secretaries, or are travelling Inspectors under +the Board of Agriculture. + +The Corps still organizes the supply of temporary workers for seasonal +jobs such as potato dropping, hoeing, harvesting, fruitpicking, potato +and root lifting, etc., done by groups under leaders. The work of +organizing in the Counties is carried out by the appointment of a +woman as District representative. She is responsible for a general +supervision of the work in all the villages in her district. Each +village has a woman to act as Registrar and her duty (with assistants, +if necessary) is to canvass all the village women and girls for +volunteers for whole and part time work, and for training, and to +canvass the farmer to find out what labour he needs, and in the +beginning they had to induce him to use women. She puts the farmer and +the women suitable for his needs in her own district, in touch with +each other, and passes to the District Representative and to the +Employment Exchanges the names of all women qualified to help and not +placed, and of those willing to train. + +All these committees, registrars and representatives are honorary +workers. The Board of Agriculture appoints to each County for work +with the committee a woman Organizing Secretary, and assistant also +if necessary. + +The Board of Agriculture, working through the Employment Exchanges +and under the direction of their women heads, arranged a series of +meetings and work of propaganda by posters and leaflets throughout +the whole country early in 1916. + +The Representatives and Registrars organized the meetings to which +the farmers and the women were invited, and the whole scheme was +explained. These were very frequently held in the market towns on +market day and the farmer and his wife came in to hear after the +sales. We had to assail the prejudices of some of our farmers pretty +vigorously and of the women, too. We found the women who volunteered +best for land work were in the class above the industrial worker, and +that the comfortable and well educated woman stood its work admirably. + +The farmers were stiff to move in some cases and especially disliked +the idea of having to train the women. "They weren't going to run +after women all day--they had too much to do to go messing round with +girls!" This objection was met by the Board of Agriculture arranging +training centres in every county. Some of the training was done at the +Women's Agricultural Colleges and among places that arranged training +very early were the Harper Adam's College in Shropshire (Swanley); +Garford (Leeds); Sparsholt (Winchester); The Midland Agricultural +Training College (Kingston), and Aberystwith. + +The Women's Agricultural Committee have arranged a great many training +centres at big farms and on the Home farms of some of our estates. + +The girls volunteering for training must be eighteen years of age. +They are interviewed as to suitability and references by the Selection +Committee. They must have a medical certificate filled in by their own +doctor or by one of the committee's doctors. + +[Illustration: BACK TO THE LAND + +WOMEN TACKLE A STRONG MAN'S PROBLEM] + +On being passed, they go to the training centre, the travelling +expenses being paid by the Board. Outfit is free and the uniform is +a very sensible one of breeches, tunic, boots and gaiters or puttees, +and soft hat, breeches, etc., cut to measure for each girl. Training +and maintenance are free and there is always an instructor on the farm +in addition to the farmer and his workers. The travelling to the post +found, is again paid by the Government, and if work is not found at +once, on completion of training, maintenance is paid till it is. + +The training is generally of four to six weeks' duration and in some +cases longer, and over 7,000 women have been trained in this way and +placed. + +Appeals for land recruits were made in February, 1916, and in January +and April, 1917, when the Women's National Service Department asked +for 100,000 women. + +The Land Army women after three months' service receive an official +armlet--a green band with lion rampant in red and a certificate of +honour. The Land women are the only women who receive an armlet--the +munition girl wears a triangular brass brooch with "On war service." + +To induce the conservative farmer to try the women, exhibitions of +farm work were arranged in different part of the country with great +success, and the girls showed they could plough, and weed and hoe +and milk and care for stock, and do all the farm work, except the +heaviest, extremely well. + +The War Office in its official memorandum of 1916 gives a long list of +the farm and garden work in which women are successfully employed, and +they have been particularly successful in the care of stock. + +The farmer who used to declare he would never have a woman and that +they were no use, and who has them now, is always quite pleased and +generally cherishes a profound conviction that the reason why his +women are all right is because he has the most exceptional ones in the +country. + +Housing the worker and especially the groups for seasonal work has +been a problem, but it has been done and the feeding of groups well +has been managed, too. + +The housing conditions for the girl going to work whole-time are +investigated by the Board organizer, and the representatives of +committee. Very frequently a small group of girls have a cottage on +the farm. + +The Inspectors of the Board are in charge of three counties each and +look after all conditions. + +The girls are now being trained to drive the motor tractors for +ploughing, and for women who understand horses there is at present a +greater demand than supply. + +The Women's Branch of the Board is also at this time appealing +for well-educated women to aid in Timber Supply for two pieces of +work--measuring trees when felled, calculating the amount of wood in +the log, and marking off for sawing, and as forewomen to superintend +cross-cutting, felling small timber and coppice and to do the lighter +work of forestry. + +Girls and women are in market gardens and on private gardens in +very large numbers. The King has a great many women in his gardens +and conservatories. Most estates are growing as many vegetables as +possible to supply the many hospitals and the Fleet, and girls are +helping very much in this. A great deal has been done by work in +allotments, plots of land taken up by town dwellers and cultivated. In +one part of South Wales alone 40,000 allotments have been worked and +the allotment holders are organizing themselves co-operatively for +the purchase of seed, etc. We have Governmental powers now not only to +enable Local Authorities to secure unused land for allotments, but to +compel farmers to cultivate all their ground. We have fixed a price +for wheat for five years, and a minimum wage for the agricultural man +and woman. + +The girls on the land improve in health and increase in weight. The +work is not only of supreme usefulness to the country--we have the +submarine ceaselessly gnawing at our shipping and making our burden +heavier--so we must produce everything possible. It has improved the +physique of our girls--they like it, and many will permanently adopt +it. Our Board of Agriculture is also encouraging, for the benefit of +the country woman, the formation of Women's Institutes, like those in +Canada and America. + +In the Lord Mayor's Procession in London, on November 9, 1917, with +the men-in-arms of all our great Commonwealth of Nations, with the +Turks and the captured German aeroplanes and guns, the munition girls +and the Land girls marched. No group in all that great array had +a warmer welcome from our vast crowds than our sensibly clothed, +healthy, happy and supremely useful Land girls. + + + + +WAR SAVINGS--THE MONEY BEHIND THE GUNS + + +"You cannot have absolute equality of sacrifice in a war. That is +impossible. But you can have equal readiness to sacrifice from all. +There are hundreds of thousands who have given their lives, there are +millions who have given up comfortable homes and exchanged them for +a daily communion with death. Multitudes have given up those whom +they loved best. Let the nation as a whole place its comforts, +its luxuries, its indulgences, its elegances, on a national altar, +consecrated by such sacrifices as these men have made." + + --THE PRIME MINISTER. + +"Deep down in the heart of every one of us there is the spirit of +love for our native land, dulled it may be in some cases, perhaps +temporarily obscured, by hardship, injustice and suffering, but it is +there and it remains for us to touch the chord which will bring it to +life; once aroused it will prove irresistible." + + --Sir R.M. KINDERSLEY, K.B.E. + + + + +CHAPTER IX + +WAR SAVINGS--THE MONEY BEHIND THE GUNS + + +To win the war, we must save. There is no task more imperative, +no need more urgent, and there is no greater work than the work of +educating the peoples of our countries, and inducing them to save and +lend to their Governments. + +The first Government Committee set up in Britain to do propaganda work +for war loans was established shortly after the war under the title +of the "Parliamentary War Savings Committee." It did some propaganda +for the early war loans. At the same time a very interesting group of +people associated with the "Round Table," and including in it many +of our most able financiers and economists--such men as the future +chairman of the National War Savings Committee, Sir Robert M. +Kindersley, K.B.E.; C.J. Stewart, the Public Trustee; Hartley Withers, +Lord Sumner, T.L. Gilmour, Theodore Chambers (now Controller of the +National War Savings Committee), Evan Hughes (now Organizer-in-Chief), +Lieut. J.H. Curle, Countess Ferrers, Basil Blackett, C.B.; William +Schooling and Mrs. Minty, Hon. Sec. Excellent articles were written, +leaflets published and meetings held at which many of us spoke +throughout the country, and valuable work was done towards educating +groups of useful people in the country. + +In 1915 a committee was appointed by the House of Commons to go into +the whole question of Loans and Methods. The committee was presided +over by Mr. E.S. Montagu, and its findings were of great interest. It +advised the immediate setting up of a committee whose task it would be +to create machinery by which the small investor might be assisted to +invest in State Securities, and secondly, to educate the country as +a whole on the imperative need of economy. The Lords Commissioners of +His Majesty's Treasury set up the National War Savings Committee in +March, 1916, and in April, 1917, it became a Government Department. +The first chairman was George Barnes, Esq., M.P., but very soon the +chairmanship was taken by Sir Robert Kindersley, a director of the +Bank of England, who has spent himself unceasingly in his great task. + +The committee started its work with a very small staff, Mr. Schooling +being one of the original half-dozen in it, and the schemes and +methods of work were evolved. It works in its organization by setting +up committees. The County is the biggest unit and the Hon. Secretary +of the County works at setting up Local Committees, which are +established in towns with under 20,000 of a population, and we put +a group of parishes together in rural districts under one Local +Committee. All towns, cities and boroughs over 20,000 population are +set up by Headquarters and have Local Central Committees. There are +now in England and Wales over 1,580 of these committees. Scotland +is worked by a separate committee. Linked up to these committees and +represented on them, the War Savings Associations work, and there are +now altogether over 40,000 of these with a weekly subscribing +membership of over 7,000,000 people. + +[Illustration: 6 REASONS + Why YOU Should Save + +1. Because when you save you help our soldiers and sailors. + +2. Because when you spend on things you do not need you help the +Germans. + +3. Because when you spend you make other people work for you, and the +work of every one is wanted now to help our fighting men to win the +war, or to produce necessaries and to make goods for export. + +4. Because by confining your spending to necessaries you relieve the +strain on our ships and docks and railways and make transport cheaper +and quicker. + +5. Because when you spend you make things dearer for everyone, +especially for those who are poorer than yourself. + +6. Because every shilling saved helps twice, first when you don't +spend it and again when you lend it to the Matron. + +POSTER ISSUED BY NATIONAL WAR SAVINGS COMMITTEE] + +The committees also did the propaganda work for the January-February +Loan of 1917, when five billion dollars was raised (£1,000,000,000) +and over eight million people (out of our population of forty-five +millions) subscribed to the loan. + +The work of the committees was admirable at that time and assisted +materially in the success of the loan. + +The National War Savings Committee was also asked by Lord Devonport in +April to assist the Ministry of Food by doing, through its committees, +a great food-saving propaganda. This request was made, because, it was +explained, the War Savings Committees are the best organized and most +thoroughly democratic Government organization in the country. This +propaganda was also done with marked success. In autumn of this year +the committees have done an extensive campaign of education, and of +work to strengthen and enlarge their associations, and also to push +the sale of the new War Bonds. + +The Treasury's policy now is to raise all the money needed by the +wisest borrowing from the people--day by day borrowing. + +The entire work of the committees and associations is done +voluntarily--nothing is paid in the whole country for the work, and +the only charge is Headquarters Staff and propaganda expenses. The +County Secretaries are in most cases Board of Education Inspectors +whom the Board has generously allowed to help. + +The War Saving Association is the body that sells the War Savings +Certificates, which are very much like the American ones. These are +also sold at all Post Offices and Banks. They cost 15/6 each, and in +five years from date of purchase are worth £1. The interest in the +fifth year is at the rate of £5.4.7 per cent. The interest begins at +the end of the first year and the certificates can be cashed at any +time at the Post Office with interest to the date of cashing. The War +Savings Certificate has the additional advantage that its interest +is free of income tax, and in a country where income tax begins above +£120 ($600), and is then at rate of 2/3 in £1 (over 10 per cent) on +earned income and 3/. on unearned, its advantage is very clear. The +interest does not need to be included in income returns--but no one +may buy more than 500 certificates. It is a specially good paying +security intended only for the small saver. + +The War Savings Associations can be set up by any group of people, +ten or upwards, who wish to save co-operatively. They must establish a +committee, small or large. They must appoint a Secretary and Treasurer +and then apply for recognition to their Local Committee, or if there +is not one, to the National Committee. They are given an affiliation +certificate by their committee and receive free all the books, papers, +etc., necessary for carrying on an association. These are all supplied +by the National Committee to Local Committees. + +The 40,000 Associations are in the Army, Navy, Munition Works, +Government establishments, Railways, Banks, Mines, Churches, Shops, +social groups, clubs, men's and women's organizations and 10,000 are +in the schools. The schools, where we receive subscriptions down to +2 cents have done wonderful work and the teachers have done a great +deal to make our movement what it is. We find the children do the best +propaganda in the homes. One teacher, after explaining to his children +what it all meant in the morning, in the afternoon had dozens of +subscriptions, and among them a sovereign which had been clasped +tightly in a hot little hand for a mile and a half's walk. The little +boy said, "I told Mother about it and she gave me that for fighting +the Germans." + +Our Associations have unearthed piles of gold, one village association +alone getting in £750 in gold ($3,750). Old stockings have come +out and one agricultural laborer brought nine sovereigns to one of +our Secretaries one night, and asked her to invest it to help the +soldiers. She said, "Why did you bring it to me?" and he said, +"Because its secreter than the Post Office." And the Association +has the advantage that all its affairs are confidential, and though +figures and amounts are known, no single detail need be. + +The schemes are two and apart from schools, the minimum weekly +subscription is 12 cents. There is a Bank Book scheme and a Stamp +scheme in which the member holds a card which takes thirty-one 12-cent +stamps, and when filled up is handed in to the Secretary and a War +Savings Certificate is received. + +The financial advantage to the members of forming an Association is +quite easy to understand. Every week the takings are invested by the +Secretary (using a special slip given by the National Committee) in +War Savings Certificates, so that when members finish subscribing +for a certificate, instead of getting one dated the day they finished +paying for it, as it would be if they saved by themselves, the +Secretary has a store of earlier dated certificates on hand, and the +member receives one of these. + +This works out quite fairly if one rule is observed--never give any +one a Certificate dated earlier than the first week they started +paying for it. + +The people of England needed a great deal of education in war saving. +We had to fight the strongly held conviction that of all sins the most +despicable is "meanness," and that too much saving may seem mean. + +No Englishman will ever really admit he has any money, and he was +inclined to question your right to talk about the possibility of his +having some--and your right to tell him what to do with it, supposing +he had any. Some of them were a little suspicious that it was the +workers we were talking to most--it was not--and some of them were not +quite sure they wanted their employers to know how much they saved. +That is entirely obviated by the men running their own associations. +Other people told you the people in their District never did, +could, or would save and were spending their big wages in the most +extravagant way--that pianos and fur coats appealed far more than +war savings certificates. The official people in the towns when we +approached them about conferences said much the same in some cases, +but, yes, of course, you could come and have a conference and the +Mayor would preside and you could try. And you did, and in six months +they had dozens of associations and thousands of members and had sold +some thousands of certificates. We sell about one and a half million +certificates a week and have sold about 140 millions since March, +1916. The appeal that won them was not only the practical appeal of +the value of the money after the war for themselves, to buy a house, +to provide for old age, to educate the children. The strongest appeal +was the patriotic one. Save your money to save your country. Throw +your silver bullets at the enemy. We have not been content to say only +"save," we have tried to educate our people on finance and economics. +We have tried to show them that no country can go on in a struggle +like this unless it conserves its resources--not even the richest +countries. We have tried to appeal to the spirit behind all these +things and our Chairman in one of his admirable speeches said: + +"It is upon these simple human feelings of loyalty, comradeship and +patriotism that the great War Savings Movement is founded. Because of +the strength of this foundation I feel convinced that we shall succeed +in the great national work we are setting out to perform. However +difficult our task may prove, however serious the times ahead, this +spirit will carry us safely and triumphantly through everything, and +in the end we shall find ourselves not weakened but strengthened +on account of these same difficulties which we shall most surely +overcome." + +The problem before us is the problem of finding ten times the amount +of money we did before the war for National purposes. We are spending +over $30,000,000 a day. By our taxations, which includes an 80 per +cent tax on excess profits, we are raising over 25 per cent of our +total expenditure. We have met some other part of our expenditure in +the three years of war by using our gold reserve very heavily; a great +deal of it in payments in America, where you now possess more than a +third of the gold of the entire world. We have also used a portion of +our securities, our capital wealth and past savings, and we have had +to borrow heavily. Our National Debt is now £4,000,000,000. It was +£700,000,000 at the outbreak of war. £1,000,000,000 has been lent to +our Allies and the Dominions. + +Numbers of people have an impression that Governments can find money. +They can, to a certain extent, but only in a very limited way, without +great harm. There is in this creation an addition to the buying power +of the community, but if everybody goes on spending no addition to +the productive power, so it only creates high prices and hardship. The +inflation of currency caused by it is a risk and an evil. The sound +way is to get the money by taxation, from resources and in real +voluntary loans. + +America's burden is very much the same as our own, and the need +here also of voluntary saving and lending to the extent of more than +half the expenditure is clear. America, like ourselves, is very +wisely trying to democratise its war loans. Nothing is wiser or +sounder or more calculated to make progress, and the changes after +the war which will come, sound and steady than widely-spread, +democratically-subscribed loans. These vast debts will have to be +paid by the ability, productiveness and work of all, so it is in the +highest degree desirable that the money and interest to be paid back +should go out to every class of the community--and not only to small +sections. It is well to remember, too, that the country that goes +to the peace table financially sound is in a position to make better +terms. + +[Illustration: ONE OF THE POSTERS RECENTLY ISSUED BY THE NATIONAL WAR +SAVINGS COMMITTEE] + +But the purely financial side of war savings is not the most important +one. We talk in terms of money but the reality is not money but goods +and services. The problem before our Governments and the problem +that cannot be left to our children (though the debts incurred in +securing the credits may be) is the problem of finding every day over +$30,000,000 worth of material and labour for the struggle. War savings +among the people is not only essential to secure the money needed--it +is far more essential from the point of view of securing the cutting +down of the consumption of goods and labour by our peoples. + +Economists in peace time argue over what is termed "luxury" +expenditure, the wasteful expenditure of peace. War expenditure may +be correctly termed wasteful to a very great extent, and no country +can carry both of these expenditures and remain solvent. Luxury +expenditure should be entirely eliminated and the material and labour +which was absorbed by it should go into the war. If this could be +done completely, little damage would be done to the nation's economic +position. The thing to be clearly realized is that all the productive +effort of the nation is needed for three things--the carrying on of +the war--the production of necessaries and the manufacture of goods +for export. Every civilian who uses material and labour unnecessarily +makes these tasks harder and goes into the markets as an unfair +competitor of the Government. Every man and woman who saves five +dollars and lends it to their country give their country what is far +more important than the five dollars. They transfer to the Government +the five dollars worth of material and labour they could have used up +if they had spent it on themselves and that is its real value. This +means the needful purchases of the State are substituted for, instead +of added to, the purchases of the civilian. + +Further, the influence of economy in preventing undue inflation of +currency and consequent high prices should be realized. A certain +amount of high prices in war is inevitable but if civilians buy +extravagantly, competition becomes intense and prices rise beyond all +need. The supplies are limited--in our case that is greatly added +to by the submarine menace--and the demands of the Government are +enormous. The competition between the Government and the people grows +more and more intense. Prices go still higher. The Government pays +more than it should and so do the people. Higher wages are demanded +with consequent higher prices, and so you get a vicious circle that +gets more and more dangerous. If the civilian will relieve this +pressure by demanding less, and cutting down his expenditure, prices +will become more reasonable and the cost of the war less. + +The chief difficulty in time of war is to make people realize the need +of economy when they have, as our people have, more money than ever +before, when enormous sums of money pour out ceaselessly to the people +from the Government. They have to realize the fundamental difference +between peace prosperity and war prosperity. Peace prosperity comes +from the creation of wealth. War prosperity comes from the dissipation +of wealth--the use of all resources--the pledging of credits. It is +just as if we, as individuals, to meet a personal crisis, took all our +personal savings and borrowed all we could and proceeded to spend it. +The wise man or woman will save all of it they can and realize that +every unnecessary dollar spent helps the enemy. No civilian in a +struggle of this kind has any moral right to more than necessary +things. We want every man and woman to have all they need for their +efficiency. We would not say for one moment that every one can save, +and money spent on clothing and feeding the children and keeping the +home comfortable is well spent, but nothing should be wasted. + +The standard in this matter should be set by the rich, on whom rests +the greatest responsibility, moral and social. It is impossible to +expect workers to save if they see luxury and extravagance everywhere +round them. One cannot too strongly say that. + +The civilians who work hard to produce, who have done heavy toil in +munitions and industry, and receive good wages and then go out and +spend it lavishly might just as well have slacked at their work. The +ultimate effect is the same. They have undone the good they did. It is +as if soldiers having won a trench let the Germans come back into it. + +People of small means often feel that all they can save is so small +that it cannot really help and wonder if the effort to save is worth +while, but if every person in America saved 2 cents a day, it would +amount to $730,000,000 in a year, and that would find a great deal of +munitions. + +Finding the money by saving finds everything, releases men for the +army, finds labour and money for munitions, finds labour for ships and +relieves the demands on tonnage, finds supplies. It is the fundamental +service of the civilian, and no good citizen wants luxuries while +soldiers and sailors need clothes and guns and ships and munitions. + +Everybody, man, woman, and child, can join the great financial army +and march behind our men, and women have done with us and can do +everywhere a great work in this. Women are on our National Committee +and doing a great deal of its organization. Our men in the trenches, +in the air, at sea, endure for us what we would have said before the +war was humanly unendurable. They pay for our freedom with a great +price--and we send them out to pay it--in death, disablement, +suffering and sacrifice. To fail in our duty behind them would be the +great betrayal. + +Our treasures are very small things compared with our men. Shall we +give them and not our money? + +[Illustration: REVERSE OF BEFORE YOU SPEND] + +[Illustration] + +A BOOKMARK, ISSUED BY N.W.S.C. + +[Illustration: THINK BEFORE YOU SPEND] + +[Illustration: REVERSE OF HOW 15/6] + +ANOTHER BOOKMARK + + + + +FOOD PRODUCTION AND CONSERVATION + + + "The whole country ought to realise that we are a beleaguered + city." + + --The President of the Board of Agriculture. + + + "If you have any belief in the cause for which thousands of + your fellow-countrymen have laid down their lives, you will + scrape and scrape and scrape, you will go in old clothes, + and old boots, and old ties until such a mass of treasure be + garnered into the coffers of the Government as to secure + at the end of all this tangle of misery a real and lasting + settlement for Europe." + + --The President of the Board of Education. + + + + + +CHAPTER X + +FOOD PRODUCTION AND CONSERVATION + + +In this great struggle the food question assumes greater and greater +importance. + +The production of food has been affected by the raising of great +armies--more than twenty million men are in arms in Europe--by the +feeding of armies, for which we must, of necessity, provide food in +excess of what these men would need in civil life. The ability to +get the food has been made difficult for us by the submarine warfare. +Thousands of tons of wheat lie in Australia, but we cannot afford +ships to bring it. Tea has been very short in England, though again +there are thousands of tons waiting in India. The most urgent need of +the Allies is for ships and more ships. There has been great loss of +tonnage and the needs of the Army and Navy absorb the service of vast +numbers of the available ships. We have moved 13,000,000 men since +war broke out, and the supplies and munitions they have needed, to our +many fronts. Ceaselessly we move the wounded. We have to bring into +Britain half our food. That we have done this, has been due to the +British Navy and the Reserves--the patrols and the mine sweepers--the +Fringes of the Fleet--and not least, the merchant seaman. About +6,000 merchantmen have been killed by the enemy, some with diabolical +cruelty. These men are torpedoed and come into port, and go for +another ship at once. On the ship on which I crossed there were seamen +who had been torpedoed three times In its submarine warfare the enemy +has broken every international and human law--has used "frightfulness" +to its fullest extent, and the answer of our merchant seamen is to go +to sea again as soon as the ship is ready, and the older men, who had +retired, return to sea. The seaman of our country know the enemy. It +was our Seamen's Union that refused to carry the Peace Delegates to +Stockholm, and it is they and our fishermen who, in the Reserves, man +the patrols and mine sweepers, and who, on our little drifters and +trawlers, have fought the enemy's big destroyers--fought till they +went down, refusing to surrender. + +It is not strange that the best-liked poster in our Food Crusade, +and the one people want everywhere, is a simple drawing of a merchant +seaman, and under it the words, "We risk our lives to bring you food. +It is up to you not to waste it." + +The countries that can succeed best in solving the food question are +the countries that will win, and the food problem will not cease, any +more than many others, when peace is declared. + +Very early in the war, existing organizations, such as the National +Food Reform Association, and newly created ones, the National Food +Economy League and the Patriotic Food League of Scotland, did a great +deal of active work on food saving. They aimed at instructing in +the scientific principles of the economical use of food, and issued +admirable leaflets and Handbooks for Housewives and Cookery Books. +A series of Exhibitions, often described as "Patriotic Housekeeping +Exhibitions" were held in different parts of the country, organized +generally by women's societies. One of the early ones I organized +in Salisbury. Later, the Public Trustee was chairman of an Official +Committee, which organized large Exhibitions in London and throughout +the country. These Exhibitions had stalls showing food values with +specimens, had exhibits of the most economical cooking stoves and +arrangements, and exhibited every manner of time and labour saving +device. They had wonderful exhibits of clothes for children made from +old clothes of grown-ups, of marvellous dresses and little jerseys and +caps and scarfs made from legs of old stockings. There were charming +dresses and underclothing made of the very simplest materials and +decorated artistically with stitching and embroidery. These were made +by school girls of seven and upwards for themselves, and the Glasgow +School of Art's work, done in schools there, was perfectly beautiful. +The cost was shown and it was incredibly small. All sorts of things +for the household in simple carpentry and upholstery, using up boxes +and wood, were shown, and old tins were converted into all sorts of +useful household things. Facts as to waste were made as striking as +possible by demonstration. Every exhibition had a War Savings Stall +and Certificates were often sold at these in large numbers, the Queen +buying the first sold at the first London Exhibition. + +The great feature of the Exhibitions was Food Saving and Conservation. +Demonstrations in cooking and in hay-box cooking, were given and these +were attended by thousands of women, Miss Petty, "The Pudding Lady," +being a specially attractive demonstrator. She was called "The Pudding +Lady," first by little children in London in the East End, where she +used to go into the homes, and show them how to cook on their own +fires, and with their own meagre possessions. When she came there was +pudding, so her title came as a result. + +We always included exhibits and posters on the care of the babies +and the children. Lectures on vegetable and potato growing, bee and +poultry keeping, etc., were also given. + +There were competitions in connection with the Exhibitions--prizes +were offered for the best cake--for the best war bread--for the best +dinners for a family at a small cost--for the best weekly budgets of +different small incomes--for the best blouse and dress made at a +small cost, etc., and these were extremely popular. The prizes were +generally War Savings Certificates or labour-saving devices. + +From the Governmental point of view the Food work is in two great +divisions: Food Production, which is worked by the Food Production +Department of the Board of Agriculture, of which the Women's Branch is +doing the work of placing women on the land. It not only works on the +production of more food but it organizes the conservation of food, +such as fruit bottling, and preserving fruit, and vegetable and fruit +drying, etc. + +A very great deal has been done in demonstrating how to conserve +fruit and vegetables all over the country and this has been done to an +extent hitherto quite unreached. Co-operative work has been done and +most interesting experiments made. The glass bottles necessary have +been secured by the Department, and are sold by them to those doing +the conservation at a fixed price. Last summer the Sugar Commission +also arranged to sell sufficient sugar for making preserves to those +people who grow their own fruit. This they succeeded in doing to a +very large extent--which was a most valuable conservation. + +The Ministry of Food is the other great body dealing with all food +problems of supply, price, regulations, and propaganda. + +Lord Rhondda is our Food Controller. Our first Controller was Lord +Devonport. Food control is the most unpopular work in any country and +a Food Controller deserves the help, sympathy and support of every +good citizen. No Food Controller, no matter how able, and no matter +how great and comprehensive his powers are, can do his work without +the co-operation of the people. + +Lord Rhondda's powers are very great as to control of supplier prices +and regulations. The price of the four pound loaf (and it must be four +pounds) is fixed by our Government at 18 cents and the loss is borne +by the Government. + +The prices of meat, beans, cheese, tea, sugar, milk, and the profits +on other articles are regulated by the Ministry. When Lord Devonport +was Food Controller we had courses at lunch and dinner limited--a +policy most people felt to be stupid as it meant a run on staple +foods--and it was abandoned by Lord Rhondda. We had meatless days, +which also have been stopped. We found it difficult to do, and +impossible to regulate. We had many potatoless days last spring--by +regulation in the restaurants--perforce by most of us in towns where +they were almost impossible to get, but this year we have the biggest +potato crop we have had. + +In restaurants and hotels now supplies are regulated. No one can have +more than two ounces of bread at any meal, and the amount of flour and +sugar supplied is strictly rationed to the hotels, according to the +number served. Not more than five ounces of meat (before cooking) can +be served at any meal. These regulations are strictly enforced, and +the duty of seeing all the regulations are carried out, and all the +work done, devolves upon the Local Food Control Committees which have +been set up all over the country under the Ministry, by the local +authorities. On every such Committee there must be women. They fix +prices for milk, etc., and initiate prosecutions for infringements of +the laws regulating food. + +No white flour is sold or used in Britain. The mills are all +controlled by the Government and all flour is now war grade, which +means it is made of about 70 per cent white flour and other grains, +rye, corn (which we call maize), barley, rice-flour, etc., are added. +We expect to mill potato flour this year. Oatmeal has a fixed price, +9 cents a pound, in Scotland, 10 cents in England. No fancy pastries, +no icing on cakes and no fancy bread may be made. Only two shapes of +loaf are allowed--the tin loaf and the Coburg. Cakes must only have 15 +per cent sugar and 30 per cent war grade flour. Buns and scones and +biscuits have regulations as to making, also. + +Butter is very scarce and margarine supplies not always big enough, +and we have tea and sugar and margerine queues in our big towns--women +standing in long rows waiting. It is an intolerable waste of time--and +yet it seems difficult to get it managed otherwise. + +The woman in the home in our country with high prices, want of +supplies, and her desire to economise has had a busy and full time, +but our people are quite well fed. Naturally enough, considering the +hard work we are all doing, our people are really using more, not less +food, but waste is being fought very well. + +Waste is a punishable offence and if you throw away bread or any good +food, you will be proceeded against, as many have been, and fined 40/- +to £100. No bread must be sold that is not twelve hours baked. New +bread is extravagant in cutting and people eat more. It is interesting +to note that in one period of the Napoleonic wars we did the same +thing and ate no new bread. + +Food hoarding is an offence and the food is commandeered and the +hoarder punished. Several people have been fined £50 and upwards. + +The work of the Army in economizing food has been a great work. +Rations have been cut down and much more carefully dealt with. The use +of waste products has become a science. All the fats are saved--even +the fats in water used in washing dishes are trapped and saved. The +fats are used to make glycerine, and last year the Army saved enough +waste fat to make glycerine for 18,000,000 shells. Fats and scraps for +pigs, and bones, etc., are all sold and one-third of the money goes +back to the men's messing funds to buy additional foods and every camp +tries to beat the other in its care and efficiency and the women cooks +are doing admirably in this work. + +Officers of the Navy and Army are only permitted to spend a certain +amount on meals in restaurants and hotels--3/6 for lunch and 5/6 for +dinner and 1/6 for tea. + +The other side of the Food Campaign is the propaganda and educative +work. Lord Rhondda has two women Co-Directors with him--Mrs. C.S. Peel +and Mrs. M. Pember Reeves--in the Ministry of Food, and they help in +the whole work and very specially with the educational and propaganda +work, and with the work of communal feeding. + +A number of communal kitchens have been established with great +success--many being in London. At these thousands of meals are +prepared--soups and stews, fish, and meats, and puddings, every +variety of dishes, and the purchasers come to the kitchens and bring +plates and jugs to carry away the food. Soups are sold from 2 to +4 cents for a jugful, and other things in proportion. These are +established under official recognition, the Municipalities in most +cases providing the initial cost. The prices paid cover the cost of +food and cooking, and the service is practically all voluntary. + +The first propaganda work was, as I have said, done by the War Savings +Committees, and our big task was to try to make our people realize how +undesirable it is to have to resort to compulsory rationing. We +are rationed on sugar and we do not want to adopt more compulsory +rationing than is necessary. Compulsory rationing, in some people's +minds, seems to ensure supplies. It does not and where, under +voluntary rationing, people go round and find other food and get along +with the supplies there are, under compulsory rationing there would +always be a tendency to demand their ration and to make trouble about +the lack of any one commodity in it. + +Compulsory rationing to be workable must be a simple scheme, and no +overhead ration of bread, for example, is just. The needs of workers +vary and so do the needs of individuals, and bread is the staple food +of our poorer classes. They have less variety of foods and need more +bread than the better-off people. Compulsory rationing may have to +come, but most of us are determined it will not come till it is really +unavoidable and we are appealing to our people to prevent that, and +masses of them are economizing and saving in a manner worthy of the +greatest praise. + +The rationing we appealed to our people to get down to, was three +pounds of flour per head in the week, 2½ lbs. of meat and ½ lb. sugar. + +The King's Pledge, which we had signed by those willing to do this, +all over the country, pledged people to cut down their consumption +of grain by one-quarter in the household, and the King's Proclamation +urged this, and economies in grain and horse feeding. + +An old Proclamation of the 18th century appealed to our people to cut +down their consumption of their grains by one-third and was almost +identical in form, and copies signed by Edmund Burke and other famous +people were shown in our Thrift Exhibitions in Buckinghamshire. + +We arranged meetings for the maids of households in big groups to +explain the need and meaning of economy in food with great success. +Every head of a household knows that the maids can make or mar one's +efforts to save food, and we have found many of ours admirable, and +willing to do wonders in the way of economy and saving. + +If compulsory rationing in more than sugar comes as it may, the +basis of rationing will, we believe, be worked out with as much +consideration as possible of the needs of the workers. + +Our Co-operative movement is, in a simple way rationing its buyers, by +regulating supplies, and it is in voluntary work of that kind, which +is going on extensively, and in the people's own efforts and economies +that our great hope lies. + +The Ministry of Food arranges meetings and sends speakers to +associations and bodies of every kind. The schools are very +extensively used for demonstrations to which the parents are invited. +The children are talked to and write essays on food and general saving +and in these, one little girl of seven told us, "If you don't throw +away your crusts, you will beat the Kaiser," and another small boy +said, "Boys should give up sliding for the war, as it wears out their +boots," and another said, "We should not go to picture houses so +much--once a week is quite often enough." One little child who had +been coached at school returned home to see a baby sister of two throw +away a big crust and said, "If Lord Rhondda was here, wouldn't he give +you a row." So the root of the matter seems to be in the youth of our +country and the sweetness and willingness of their sacrifices is very +fragrant. They sing about saving bread and saving pennies, and to +hear a choir of Welsh children sing these songs, with a vigour and +enjoyment that is infectious, is quite delightful. + +Most of our big girls' schools have given up buying sweets, and when +they get gifts of them send them to the prisoners and the soldiers. We +have, of course, restricted our manufacture of sweets very much. + +Our school children have, in addition, worked enormous numbers of +school gardens and grown tons of potatoes and vegetables. + +Our distilleries are taken over by the Government for spirits for +munitions and our beer is cut down very greatly. Travelling kitchens +go out from the Ministry of Food also and do demonstrations in +villages and country districts on cooking and conservation. The +Ministry issues leaflets of recipes and instructions in cooking and +has a special Win the War Cookery Book. Articles are also published on +food values and quite a number of people begin to understand something +about calories, even though they are rather vague about what it all +means. + +Naturally most of the Food speaking and work is done by women though +food control and saving is men's and women's work. + +This year we saved grain by collecting the horse chestnuts, a work +that was done by the school children. These are crushed and the oil +used for munitions and it was reckoned we could save tens of thousands +of tons of grain by doing this. + +A wonderful work in the use of waste materials has been the work of +the Glove Waistcoat Society, to which American women have kindly sent +old gloves. Old gloves are cleaned, the fingers are cut off, the other +big pieces stitched together and cut into waistcoats and backed by +linenette. These are sold to the soldiers and sailors for wear under +their tunics and are most beautifully light and windproof. The fingers +of kid gloves are made into glue, of wash leather gloves into rubbers +for household use. The big pieces of linenette over are made into dust +sheets and the small scraps go to stuff mattresses for a Babies' Home. +The buttons are carded and sold and the making up provides work for +distressed elderly women. It needs no funds--it is self-supporting--it +only needs old gloves. + +In preventing waste and in food production and conservation, our +people have learned much, and a very great deal of admirable work is +being done. + + + + +THE WOMEN'S ARMY AUXILIARY CORPS + + "Now every signaller was a fine Waac, + And a very fine Waac was she--e." + + "Soldier and Sailor, too." + + + + +CHAPTER XI + +THE WOMEN'S ARMY AUXILIARY CORPS + + +The Waacs is the name we all know them by and shall, it seems, +continue to. It will have to go into future dictionaries beside Anzac. + +The deeds of the Anzacs in Gallipoli and France are immortalised in +many records--magnificently in John Masefield's "Gallipoli"--an epic +in its simplicity. The work of the Waacs is the work of support and +substitution and its records only begin to be made. + +The Women's Army Auxiliary Corps is an official creation of this year. +At the Women's Service Demonstration in the Albert Hall in January, +1917, Lord Derby asked for Women for clerical service in the army and +official appeals were issued in February and repeatedly since that +time, and now all over the country we have Recruiting Committees +organizing meetings and securing recruits. They are recruiting at the +rate of 10,000 a month. + +The Waacs had many forerunners in some of our voluntary organizations, +in the Women's Reserve Ambulance, of "The Green Cross Society," +attached to the National Motor Volunteers--the Women's Volunteer +Reserve--the Women's Legion--the Women's Auxiliary Force and the Women +Signallers Territorial Corps. The Women's Signallers Corps had as +Commandant-in-Chief Mrs. E.J. Parker--Lord Kitchener's sister. They +believed women should be trained in every branch of signalling and +that men could be released for the firing line by women taking over +signalling work at fixed stations. Their prediction came true more +than two years later, for today they are in France. They drilled and +trained the women in all the branches of signalling semaphore--flags, +mechanical arms; and in Morse--flags, airline and cable, sounder +(telegraphy), buzzer, wireless, whistle, lamp and heliograph. They +also learned map reading--the most fascinating of accomplishments. +This Corps had the distinction of introducing "wireless" for women +in England in connection with its Headquarters training school. When +one of the Corps later accepted a splendid appointment as wireless +instructor at a wireless telegraph college--the Corps was duly elated. + +[Illustration: W.A.A.C.'s. ON THE MARCH] + +[Illustration: WOMEN OF THE RESERVE AMBULANCE] + +The Women's Reserve Ambulance had the distinction of being the first +ambulance on the scene in the first serious Zeppelin Raid in London +(September, 1915). They came to where the first bombs fell, killing +and wounding, and did the work of rescue, and when another ambulance +arrived later, "Thanks," said the police, "the ladies have done this +job." + +They worked assisting the War Hospital Supply Depots, that wonderful +organization run by Miss MacCaul, they provided orderlies to serve the +meals and act as housemaids, and make the men welcome at Peel House, +one of the Canadian Clubs. Others helped in Hospitals, washing up and +doing other work. + +Others met and moved wounded--others at night took the soldiers to +the Y.M.C.A. huts. The Women's Volunteer Reserve, too, seemed to be +everywhere doing all sorts of useful, helpful things--disciplined, +ready, and trained. The Women's Legion led the way in providing cooks +and waitresses for camps and sent out 1,200 of these inside a year. +The first convalescent camp to have all its cooking and serving done +by women was managed--admirably, too--by the Women's Legion, so +the Waacs had many voluntary forerunners, who are mostly in it and +amalgamated with it now. + +The Waacs are a part of the Army organization--are in His Majesty's +Forces and when a girl joins she is subject to army rules and +regulations. They are working now in large numbers in England and in +France, at all the base towns, and in quiet places, where things that +matter are planned and initiated. + +The girl who goes to France knows she is going to possible danger by +being handed, before she goes, her two identification discs. + +For France, no woman under twenty or over forty is eligible. After +volunteering, they are chosen by Selection Boards and medically +examined. They receive a grant for their uniforms. The workers wear +a khaki coat-frock--a very sensible garment--brown shoes and soft hat +and a great coat. At the end of a year they get a £5 ($25) bonus on +renewing their contracts, and they get a fortnight's leave in a year. + +Their payment is not high--it works out about the same as a soldier's +when everything is paid--and that, with us, is just over 25 cents a +day, so the khaki girl, like the soldier, does not work for the money. + +The whole organization is officered and directed by women. Mrs. +Chalmers Watson, M.D., C.B.E., is the Chief Controller, with +Miss MacQueen as Assistant Chief Controller. Under them are the +Controllers--Area, Recruiting, etc., and the officer in charge +of a unit is called an Administrator, and under her are deputy +administrators and assistant-administrators. They are not given +Military titles and do not hold commissions, but their appointments +are gazetted in the ordinary way. There is always a strong feeling in +England that Military and Naval titles should be strictly reserved. + +The equivalent of a sergeant is a "forewoman," and there are +quartermistresses in charge of stores. Rank is shown as among the men, +by badges, rose and fleur-de-lys. + +Administrators are being trained in large numbers. They have a short +course of drilling, learn to fill up Army forms, make out pay sheets, +how to requisition for rations, catering generally, and how to run a +hostel. They also attend practical lectures on hygiene and sanitation. +When this is done, they go to camp for a fortnight's training under an +administrator in actual charge of a Unit. If they have not done well +in this course, they are not appointed. + +An administrator receives a $100 grant for her uniform and is paid +from $600 to $875 a year out of which $200 is deducted for food. There +is generally one officer to every fifty women. + +The administrator must drill her girls. The W.A.A.C. is proud of its +tone and its discipline. Its officers make the girls feel much is +expected of them, because of the uniform they wear, and the girls have +made a fine response. There are very few rules and as little restraint +as possible. The girls are put on their honour when not under +supervision. The administrator has considerable disciplinary powers, +but they are very little needed. + +It does not seem to be by discipline that the officer succeeds best. +There is a nice story told of an Administrator who had been away from +her unit some days, returning and being met at the station by one of +the rank and file who had come for her bag. + +"I _am_ glad to see you, Ma'am," was the greeting, so emphatic a one +that the Administrator inquired nervously if something were wrong. + +"Oh, no. Seems as if Mother had been away, Ma'am," explained the girl. + +The Administrator can help her girls by sorting them out well, +putting friends and the same kind of girls together; it makes so much +difference. + +The Administrator has not only to handle her own sex--she has to deal +with men officers and quartermasters, and she succeeds in doing that +well, too. + +Our Administrators are naturally women of education and carefully +chosen and there is plenty of opportunity of rising "from the ranks." + +The girls cross over to France on the gray transports, are received +by the women Draft Receiving Officers, and go up the lines to their +assigned posts. + +The women are billeted in some of the base towns in pensions and +summer hotels that have been commandeered, in big houses and in one +case in a beautiful old Chateau where the ghosts of dead-and-gone +ladies of beauty and fashion must wonder what kind of women these +khaki clad girls are. The girls in these make their rooms home-like +with photographs, hangings, and little personal belongings. + +The greater number of girls live in camps, and different types of huts +have been tried. Some of the camps are entirely of wooden huts--large +and roomy. Other camps have the Nissen hut of corrugated iron, lined +with laths wood floored and raised from the ground. These have +been linked together in the cleverest way by covered ways. In the +sleeping huts the beds are iron bedsteads with springs and horse-hair +mattresses. Each bed has four thoroughly good blankets and a pillow. +No sheets are given--there is no labour to wash the thousands of +sheets, and the cotton is needed. Each woman has a wooden locker with +a shelf above, and a chair. Washing and bathing is done in separate +huts, and in every camp hot and cold water is laid on. + +The mess room is a big hut. The girls wait on themselves and the food +is excellent. They receive in rations the same as the soldiers on +lines of communication--four-fifths of a fighting man's ration and +whatever is over is returned and credited, and the extra money is used +for luxuries, games and for entertaining visitors from other camps. + +Here is a typical week's meals and it shows how well they are fed: + + MONDAY.--Breakfast: Tea, bread, butter, baked mince, jam. + Dinner: Cold beef, potatoes, tomatoes, baked apples, custard. + Tea: Tea, bread, butter, jam. Supper: Welsh rarebit, bread, + butter, jam. + + TUESDAY.--Breakfast: Tea, bread, butter, boiled ham, + marmalade. Dinner: brown onion stew, potatoes, baked beans, + biscuit pudding. Tea: Tea, bread, butter, jam, cheese. Supper: + Savoury rice, tea, bread. + + WEDNESDAY.--Breakfast: Tea, bread, butter, veal loaf. Dinner: + Roast mutton, potatoes, marrow, bread pudding. Tea: Tea, + bread, butter, marmalade, jam. Supper: Rissoles, bread, + butter, cheese. + + THURSDAY.--Breakfast: Tea, bread, butter, fried bacon. Dinner: + Meat pie, potatoes, cabbage, custard and rice. Tea: Tea, + bread, butter, jam. Supper: Soup, bread and jam. + + FRIDAY.--Breakfast: Tea, bread, butter, rissoles, marmalade. + Dinner: Boiled beef, potatoes and onions, Dundee roll. Tea: + tea, bread, butter, jam, slab cake. Supper: Shepherd's pie, + tea, bread, butter. + + SATURDAY.--Breakfast: Tea, bread, butter, boiled ham, jam. + Dinner: Thick brown stew, potatoes and cabbage, bread pudding. + Tea: Tea, bread, butter, jam, cheese. Supper: Toad-in-hole, + bread jam. + + SUNDAY.--Breakfast: Tea, bread, butter, fried bacon. Dinner: + Roast beef, potatoes and cabbage, stewed fruit, custard. Tea: + Tea, bread, butter, jam. Supper: Soup, bread, butter, cheese. + +They are divided into five big classes for work. There are large +numbers of them cooks and waitresses, and many of these cooks come +from the best private houses in England, so the Waacs and the soldiers +fare well. In one camp in the early days sixty women cooks walked in +and sixty men out, released for the fighting lines. The saving in fats +done by the women is very great and their economies admirable and the +women are waitresses in the camps and messes. + +In one base in France when twenty-nine cooks came to take charge in +the early days the commanding officer issued an order that expresses +very well the spirit in which the women are regarded. + + +BASE DEPOT. + + The Officer Commanding Base Depot wishes to draw the attention + of all ranks to the following points in connection with the + Domestic Section of the Women's Auxiliary Army, which is + employed in this depot: + + These women have not come out for the sake of money, as their + pay is that of a private soldier. In nearly every case they + have lost someone dear to them in this war, and they are out + here to try to do their best to make things more comfortable + for the men in regard to their food. + + It, therefore, is up to all ranks to make their lot an easy + and not a hard one during their stay in France. If any man + should so forget himself as to use bad language or at any time + to be rude to them, it is up to any of his comrades standing + by to shut him up, and see that he does not repeat this + offence. + + To the older men I would say: Treat them as you would your own + daughters. To the younger men: Treat them as you would your + own sisters. + + ----, Comdg., Base Depot. + +They are doing the clerical work more and more, and in a few weeks +have become so technical that they know where to send requisitions +concerning 9.2 guns or trench mortars or giant howitzers. There is a +favourite story told against an early Waac that when a demand came for +armoured hose, she sent it to the clothing department, but she knows +better now. + +French girls are also helping in the clerical department, working side +by side with the Waacs. + +Others, the telegraphists and telephonists are in the Signalling Corps +and these are the only ones who wear Army badges. They work under the +Officers Commanding Signals and are so successful that the officers +want thousands more. + +Another small group are called the "Hush Waacs." There are only +about a dozen of them and they have come from the Censor's Office and +between them have a thorough knowledge of all modern languages. They +are decoding signalled and written messages, script of every kind. + +Numbers more are motor car and transport drivers working with A.S.C. + +An intensely interesting piece of work at the front in which the Waacs +now are, and in which French women have worked for a very long time, +and are still working in large numbers, is the great "Salvage" work of +the Army. In the Salvage centre at one ordnance base 30,000 boots are +repaired in a week. They are divided into three classes--those that +can be used again by the men at the front--those for men on the lines +of communication--those for prisoners and coloured labour, and uppers +that are quite useless are cut up into laces. They salve old helmets, +old web and leather equipments, haversacks, rifles, horse shoes, +spurs, and every conceivable kind of battlefield debris. + +The work of repair and of renewal of clothing, which goes over to +England to be dealt with, is a wonder of economy. + +The women are helping in postal work and we handle about three million +letters and packets a day in France for our Army there. + +One other piece of work that falls to trained women gardeners in the +Corps, is the care of the graves in France. There are so many graves +in little clusters, lonely by the roadside, and in great cemeteries. +They mark them clearly and they make them more beautiful with flowers. +No work they have come to do, is done more faithfully than this act of +reverence to our heroic and honoured dead. + +The Y.W.C.A.'s Blue Triangle is going to be the same symbol for the +Waacs as the Red Triangle for the Soldiers. They are building huts +everywhere in France and in England, and the girls like them as much +as the men do. + +In these recreation huts the girls enjoy themselves and there are +evenings when the soldier friends come in, too, and have a good time +with them, for Waacs and the soldiers know each other and meet at all +the Bases and Camps. + +They dance and play games, and act, or sing, or come and talk, and one +visitor tells us of seeing a girl doing machining at the end of a hut +with one soldier turning the handle for her and another helping. + +One evening at a dance some gallant Australian N.C.O.'s arrived +carrying two enormous pans of a famous salad, that was their +specialty, as their contribution to the provisions. So life in the +Waacs is not all work--there is play, too, wisely. Every camp has a +trained V.A.D. worker to look after the girls in case of sickness. +If the case is bad they are sent over to Endell Street Hospital in +London. + +The Navy is going to follow the Army--so our women will be "Soldier +and Sailor too," and we shall have to sing, "Till the girls come +home," as well. + +The Admiralty has decided to employ women on various duties on shore +hitherto done by naval ratings, and to establish a Women's Royal Naval +Service. The women will have a distinctive uniform and the service +will be confined to women employed on definite duties directly +connected with the Royal Navy. It is not intended at present to +include those serving in the Admiralty departments or the Royal +Dockyards or other civil establishments under the Admiralty. There +are thousands of women in these already, as there were in Army pay +offices, etc., before the Waacs were formed. + +Dame Katherine Furse, G.B.E., will be Director of the Women's Royal +Naval Service, and will be responsible under the Second Sea Lord, for +its administration and organization. + +Already we hear they are likely to be known as the "Wrens." And so our +women are inside the organized forces of defence of our Country--the +last line of usefulness and service. + + + + +THE WAR AND MORALS + + + "Evils which have been allowed to flourish for centuries + cannot be destroyed in a day. If the nation really wishes to + be freed from the consequences of prostitution it must deal + with the sources of prostitution by a long series of social, + educational, and economic reforms. The ultimate remedy is the + acceptance of a single standard of morality for men and women, + and the recognition that man is meant to be the master and not + the slave of his body. There are thousands of men both in the + army and out of it who know this, and for whom the streets of + London have no dangers." + + --Dr. HELEN WILSON. + + + + +CHAPTER XII + +THE WAR AND MORALS + + +The unprecedented state of things produced by the war brought in its +train serious anxiety as to moral conditions, not only in regard to +the relation between the sexes but in other ways. The gathering of +every kind of man together in camps creates great problems. Young +boys, who had never been away from home before, who know very +little of the world or of temptations, were often flung in with very +undesirable companions. There were many risks and many hard tests +and the parents who see their young boys go to camp without preparing +them, or warning them, do their boys a great disservice and I have +known of sons who bore in their hearts a feeling of having been badly +treated by their parents, that would never die, for being sent without +a word of counsel into these things. + +It is not only actions--corrupt thoughts are the most evil of all--and +to help to give our boys the greatest possession, moral courage, +founded on knowledge, is our finest gift. + +There were temptations to think less cleanly, to hear things said +without protest and to say them later. There were drinking temptations +and one used to wonder with a sick heart, what mothers would feel if +they could see these young boys of theirs sometimes, so pathetically +young and so foolish. There was also in these great camps of men--let +us realize that quite clearly--great good for the boys and the +men--good that far outweighs the evil. All the good of discipline, +all they gained by their coming together for a great cause, all they +gained in that great comradeship and service for each other, and in +their self-sacrifice for their country and the world. The wonder +and beauty of what it is, and means some of our own men have told +us--among them one who died, Donald Hankey, and has left us a rich +treasure in his works. And we all know it in our own men--that abiding +spirit that is the vision without which the people perish. + +But there are and were evils to fight and men and women to help. The +huts and canteens and guesthouses are great agencies for good--as well +as for comfort. Loneliness, and nowhere to go, and no one to talk to, +are conditions that make for mischief. + +Then there were the girls at the outbreak of the war, excited by all +that was happening, not yet busy as they nearly all are now, feeling +that the greatest thing was to know the soldiers and talk and walk +with them, and flocking around camps and barracks, being foolish and +risking worse. + +The National Union of Women Workers decided to take action about this +and drew up a scheme which they submitted to the Chief Commissioner +of the Metropolitan Police, Sir Edward Henry, K.C.V.O. This scheme was +for women of experience and knowledge of girls to patrol in the camps +and barrack areas, and talk to girls who were behaving foolishly, and +try to influence them for good. It was felt and it turned out to be +quite accurate that the mere presence of these women would make girls +and men behave better. Sir Edward Henry approved of the idea and +arranged that each Patrol should have a card signed by him to be +carried while on duty, authorizing the Patrols to seek and get the +assistance of the Police, if necessary, and the Patrols wore an armlet +with badge and number. + +Their work in London proved so successful that the Home Office +recommended the adoption of the scheme in provincial centres, where +the Chief Constables authorized them and later the War Office asked +for more Patrols in some of the camp areas and spoke very highly of +their work. + +A woman Patrol is generally a woman who is busy in her own home or +profession all day, but who gives some hours one or two evenings a +week to this work. + +They have done the work faithfully and well, and have exceeded in +their success all anticipations. There are about 3,000 Patrols in the +Kingdom; of these eighty-five are engaged in special work in London +and paid by the Commissioner of Police. Two are engaged in work at +Woolwich Arsenal. Two are Park Keepers appointed by the Board of Works +and are working in Kensington Gardens, and their names were submitted +to the King before appointment. They have the power of arrest. + +A subsidy has been granted to the Women's Patrol Committee for the +training of Women Patrols of £400 a year. In many big towns admirable +work has been done. + +In Edinburgh the Patrol Committee was asked by H.M. Office of Works to +help the men park keepers in keeping order in the King's Park. + +This they have done with great success. Dublin has just taken over two +women Patrols as paid workers. + +The Military, Admiralty, Police, and Civil Authorities have all united +in praising their work and any one can realize how much patience and +tact and knowledge it calls for, and what it means to have had it done +for over three years. The patrols have not been content only to talk +to the girls, though it is wonderful what that alone can do. They have +succeeded in getting them to come to clubs and they have worked +in connection with the mixed clubs of which we have several very +successful ones. A mixed club is very useful and helpful, but it must +be well run by a good committee of men and women, and you need people +of judgment and knowledge and tactful firmness in charge of it, if it +is to be the best kind of club. + +We have found an admirable thing is to have evenings for men friends +in the Girls' Clubs when the girls can invite their men friends in, +and have music and games and entertainment. + +When Patrols were started, there was a very strong feeling that there +ought to be women police, a much needed change in our country. We had +none when war broke out, but in September, 1914, Miss Darner Dawson +founded the Women Police Service. When members joined they were +trained in drill, first aid, practical instructions in Police Duties, +gained by actual work in streets, parks, etc. They studied special +acts relating to women and children and civil and criminal law and the +procedure and rules of evidence in Police Courts. + +Their first work was done in Grantham where, in November, 1914, +the Women's Central Committee of Grantham elected a Women Police +Subcommittee to provide a fund for the payment of two Police Women to +work with the Chief Constable. In February the following letter was +written about their work: + + "To the Chief Officer, Women Police,--I understand that there + is some idea of removing the two members of the Women Police + now stationed here. I trust that this is not the case. The + services of the two ladies in question have proved of great + value. They have removed sources of trouble to the troops in a + manner that the Military Police could not attempt. Moreover, I + have no doubt whatever that the work of these two ladies in an + official capacity is a great safeguard to the moral welfare of + young girls in the town. + + (Signed) "F. HAMMERSLEY, M.G., Commanding 11th Division, Grantham." + +and in November, 1915, they were made official Police by the City +Council. In July, 1916, the Police Miscellaneous Provisions Act was +passed, which encouraged the employment of Policewomen by stating that +pay of the police "shall be deemed to include the pay of any women who +may be employed by a Police Authority," etc. + +Now there are thirty-four Policewomen in our Boroughs, but their +position is still anomalous and unsatisfactory, as they do not come +under the Police Act for purposes of discipline, pay, pensions, and +compensation, but this will come. Meantime the Women Police Service +goes on doing its admirable work of training and providing Volunteer +and Semi-official police (supported by women's funds), in addition to +those appointed by local authorities in Boroughs. + +These semi-official police women are able to do a great deal, if the +Chief Constable is friendly, and, naturally, they are appointed where +he is so. They are often made Probation Officers and are used for +children's and girl's and women's cases. Their work leads more and +more to the official appointments and in this work as in so many +of our successes, we women have achieved the results by having the +voluntary organizations and training ourselves first and proving our +fitness. + +From my own experience, it is impossible to speak too highly of the +kindness and willingness of many Chief Constables to do everything to +teach and help the women. + +The Women Police Service naturally insists on a high standard of +training and this has been of great value. + +A big development of women police work has been in the Munition +factories where now about 700 women are employed in this capacity in +England, Scotland and Wales. + +The report of the Women's Police Service gives the following +interesting account. + +"In 1916 the Department Explosives Supply of the Ministry of Munitions +applied to Sir Edward Henry for a force of Women Police to act as +guards for certain of H.M. Factories. Sir Edward Henry sent for the +two chief officers of the Women Police Service, and informed them that +it was his intention to recommend them to the Ministry of Munitions +for the supplying of the Women Police required. They thanked the +Commissioner for his expression of trust in their capabilities, and in +July an agreement was drawn up between the Minister of Munitions +and the Chief Officer and Chief Superintendent of the Women Police +Service, who were appointed to act as the Minister's representatives +for the 'training, supplying and controlling' of the Force required. +The duties of the Policewomen were to include checking the entry of +women into the factory, examining passports, searching for contraband, +namely, matches, cigarettes and alcohol; dealing with complaints of +petty offences; patrolling the neighbourhood for the protection of +women going home from work; accompanying the women to and fro in the +workmen's trains to the neighbouring towns where they lodge; appearing +in necessary cases at the Police Court, and assisting the magistrates +in dealing with such cases, if required to. The Force for each factory +was to consist of an inspector, sergeants and constables. Women to +be trained for this work were at once enrolled by the Women Police +Service and trained under a Staff of Officers. + +"Since the inauguration of factory-police work for women in July, +1916, a marked success has attended the organisation, which has +resulted in almost daily applications for Policewomen for factories +situated in every part of the United Kingdom. We are not able to give +a list of these factories nor to mention their names in our report +of the work carried on by them, but we may say that at the present +time we are supplying H.M. Factories, National Filling Factories +and Private Controlled Factories. We are sure that our patrons and +subscribers will feel as proud as we are of the intrepid Policewomen +who for the past fourteen months have been carrying out these duties, +which, we believe, no women have hitherto dreamt of undertaking, and +which have called forth qualities of tact, discretion, cool courage +and endurance that would compare well with any of those whom we call +heroes in the fight at the front. We would call attention to one +factory from which both the military and male Police Guard has +been withdrawn. The factory employs several thousand women in the +manufacture and disposal of some of the most dangerous explosives +demanded by the war. When an air raid is in progress the operatives +are cleared from the factory and the sheds and magazines are left +to the sole charge of the Firemen and Policewomen, who take up the +respective posts allotted to them. The Policewomen who guard the +various magazines know that they hold their lives in their hands. +We are proud to report that not one woman has failed at her post or +shirked her duty in the hour of danger. The duties assigned to the +Policewomen and their officers in these factories have increased +considerably in scope during the past year. In one factory the force +of Policewomen numbers 160 under one Chief Inspector, two Inspectors +and twelve Sergeants, all of whom have been sworn in and take entire +charge of all police cases dealing with women. They arrest, convey the +prisoners to the Women Police Charge Station, keep their own charge +sheets and other official documents, lock the prisoner in the cells, +keep guard over her, convey her to the Court House for trial, and if +convicted convey her to the prison. A short time ago the Inspector of +Policewomen in one of H.M. Factories was instructed by the authorities +to send a Policewoman to a distant town to fetch a woman prisoner, +an old offender. The Policewoman was armed with a warrant, railway +vouchers and handcuffs. The prisoner was handed over to the +Policewoman by the Policeman, and the Policewoman and her charge +returned without trouble. The prisoner expressed her relief and +gratitude at being escorted by a Policewoman, and behaved well +throughout the journey. The Policewoman reported that she was given +every courtesy and assistance by both police and railway officials. + +[Illustration: POLICE WOMEN] + +"We believe this constitutes the first time in history that women +guards have been entrusted with the care and custody of their +fellow-women when charged with breaking the law." + +Other pieces of important and difficult work have been undertaken by +women. + +There have been, unfortunately, cases in which the soldier's wife, +left at home, has behaved badly and been unfaithful. Men often write +from the trenches to the Chief Constable to ask if charges made +to them in letters about their wives are true. Naturally the Chief +Constable asks the women to investigate these charges. Sometimes the +charges are quite unfounded, simply spiteful and malicious and the +woman and Chief Constable write and say so. + +In other cases the husband knows of unfaithfulness and writes to the +Army Pay Office asking to have the allowance stopped to his wife. +The Army Pay Office never acts on any such letter without securing a +report from the Chief Constable, and again the woman is needed, +and there is frequently the question of the children as well. Their +allowance, of course, never ceases but they may go to some relative or +be disposed of in some way. + +These cases are infinitesimal in number. + +After the outbreak of the war there were many scares. Every one in our +country knows now how a myth is established. We have left the stage +behind where people told you they knew, from a friend, who knew a +friend who knew some one else who saw it, who was in the War Office, +etc., etc., etc.--that England was invaded--that the Navy was all +down--or the German Navy was all down--that we were going to do this, +that, or the other impossible thing. + +Dame Rumour had a joyous time in the early days of the war and +we suffered from the people who were not only quite certain that +everything was wrong morally, but told us that the illegitimate birth +rate was going to be enormous. Their accusations against our ordinary +girls were monstrous. There was some excitement and foolishness, but +anybody who was really working and dealing with it as the Patrol were, +knew the accusations were ridiculous. The illegitimate birth rate of +our country is lower than before, which is the best reply to, and +the vindication of the men of our armies and our girls against, these +absurd attacks. + +Another scare was about the drinking of women. Soldiers' wives were +attacked in this connection and the same kind of wild accusation +made, so much so that a committee was appointed to go into the whole +question (1915), presided over by Mrs. Creighton, President of the +National Union of Women Workers. + +In my experience a great deal of this talk was caused by the fact that +many women, who had never done social work, and who knew nothing of +real conditions, started to go among the people and were shocked and +overwhelmed by what were unfortunately normal wrong conditions, and +lost all sense of perspective. Some women did drink--true--but I found +they were generally the women who always had done it, and who perhaps +in some cases, having more money of their own and no husbands to deal +with, drank a little more. + +The findings of the Committee showed this clearly and they made some +recommendations, especially recommending that the Central Board for +the Control of the Liquor Traffic proceeded to do on its creation, +restriction of hours of sale. Our restrictions make the sale of liquor +legal only from 12 noon to 2.30 and from 6.30 to 8.30 or 9 P.M. Our +convictions for drunkenness for women have fallen very low and for +men, too. There is very much less drinking in our country and things +are very much improved. + +These attacks on soldiers' wives were naturally much resented as their +work in the homes and industries, with their men away, and all their +difficulties, has not always been easy. We find there is a little more +difficulty with the boys. They miss the fathers' discipline and there +has been some trouble through that, but such magnificent agencies as +the Boy Scouts, who have helped us everywhere in the war, do great +good. + +The problem of dealing with the prevention of immorality has been +a big one. The Women Patrols and the Women Police have been used in +London in Waterloo Road (which had a bad reputation) and in parks, +etc. The G.R. Volunteer Corps of men who meet the soldier arriving in +London at the stations do a very good work. + +In the Army and Navy excellent leaflets and booklets were issued +dealing with the question in a very straightforward and admirable way. + +The Council for Moral and Social Hygiene and the National Council for +Combating Venereal Diseases has been doing a great work. The latter, +which is a body set up as a result of the Government Commission on +Venereal Diseases, had done a great deal of educational work and has +set up an organization over the country. The Commission recommended +much fuller facilities for free treatment for those suffering from +these diseases in every town and district. + +A Criminal Law Amendment Bill has been brought in and it improves +our existing law in many ways and strengthens it. There has been much +controversy about certain of its provisions, some dealing with power +to send young girls to homes. There is a very strong feeling among +many of our social workers that Rescue Work in our country altogether +needs overhauling and change, and new experiments are being tried. + +Wars have almost invariably in the past meant an enormous increase in +venereal diseases on the return of the army in the civil population. +Armies lose large numbers of men by them, and every person must feel +it is their plain duty to leave no means untried and no measures +unused that could help. + +The woman who lives by her immoral earnings is, like the man who is +immoral and uncontrolled, a serious danger and menace to her country +and to generations yet unborn. + +The problems that arise from the existence of these two groups are +the business of all men and women. The problems are those of providing +decent and wholesome recreation and surroundings, of helping men and +women to meet under right conditions, of giving the right kind of +information and guidance to the soldier and the girl, of realizing +what drink does in this traffic, and the fundamental task of working +to create better social, economic and moral conditions. + +There is no need nor is it desirable to have masses of people +suffer unnecessary misery by a knowledge of the exact nature of this +disease--which leads sometimes to morbidity and often to a frenzied +desire to do something at once, before they really know anything about +the question and what has been done. + +There are three questions that ought to be answered in the affirmative +before any legislation or preventive treatment is decided on. + +Will the proposed action apply equally to men and to women, to rich +and to poor? + +Will it tend to increase and not undermine the powers of self-control? + +Will it improve morals in the nation and elevate them? + +Repressive measures by themselves achieve nothing. Preventive measures +of every practical and sound kind we want, but most of all we need +to inculcate the truth that "Self-reverence, self-knowledge, +self-control, These three alone lead man to sovereign power." + +It is not enough to prevent and teach. We should be willing to help +up, to save, to love, and we should never be self-righteous in our +help. + +Who among us has the right to cast the first stone? + + + + +WHAT THE WAR HAS DONE FOR WOMEN + + + "Give her of the fruits of her lands and let her own words + praise her in the gates." + + --PROV., Chap 31. + + + + +CHAPTER XIII + +WHAT THE WAR HAS DONE FOR WOMEN + + +The war has done already, with us, such great things for women, so +many of them so naturally accepted now, that it is almost difficult to +get back in thought, and realize where we stood when it broke out. + +General Smuts, in one of his speeches, said, "Under stress of great +difficulty practically everything breaks down ultimately, and the only +things that survive are really the simple human feelings of loyalty +and comradeship to your fellows, and patriotism, which can stand any +strain and bear you through all difficulty and privation. We soldiers +know the extraordinary value of these simple feelings, how far they go +and what strain they can bear, and how, ultimately, they support the +whole weight of civilization." + +In this war our men, in their dealings with us, have got down more and +more to simple fundamental truths and facts--loyalty and comradeship, +founded on our common patriotism. We have got nearer and nearer to the +ideal so many of us long for, equal right to serve and help. The great +fundamental establishment of political rights for women has come with +us. When war broke out, women's suffrage was winning all the time a +greater and greater mass of adherents, a majority of the House was +pledged to vote for it and had been for years, the Trade Unions and +Labour Party stood solid for it, but the motive to act seemed lacking. + +War came, and every political party in our country laid aside +political agitation. No party meetings have been held since August, +1914. Suffragists and anti-suffragists did the same. The great body of +constitutional suffragists kept their organization intact but used +it for "sustaining the vital energies of the nation." Relief Work, +Hospital Work and Supplies, Child Welfare, Comforts, Workrooms, help +for professional women, work for Belgian refugees, work in canteens +and huts, work for the Soldiers and Sailors Families' Association, +Schools for Mothers, Girls' Clubs--into everything the Suffrage +societies fling themselves with ardour, zeal and ability. No women +knew better how to organize, no women better how to educate and win +help. They formed an admirable Women's Interests Committee, and looked +after all women's interests excellently. + +When the Government issued its first appeal for women volunteers for +munitions and land, etc., it asked the Suffrage societies to circulate +them and to help them to secure the needed labour from women. + +As the war went on it became clearer and clearer that the men of +the country saw more and more vividly why suffragists had asked for +votes--and more and more were impressed with the value of their work. +At meetings to do propaganda for Government appeals, when women spoke +on the needs of the country, men everywhere, although it had nothing +to do with the appeal, and had never been mentioned, declared their +conversion to Women's Suffrage in the War. + +Women pointed out that they did not want Women's Suffrage as a +reward--but as a simple right. They had not worked for a reward, but +for their country, as any citizen would, but, in our country, the +great converting power is practical proof of value and they had that +overwhelmingly in our work. The Press came out practically solidly for +Women's Suffrage. The work of women was praised in every paper and +one declared, "It cannot be tolerable that we should return to the +old struggle about admitting them to the franchise." Eminent +Anti-Suffragists, inside and outside of the House of Commons, frankly +admitted their conversion. Mr. Asquith, the old enemy of Women's +Suffrage, said in a memorable speech: "They presented to me not only +a reasonable, but, I think, from their point of view, an unanswerable +case.... They say that when the war comes to an end, and when the +process of industrial reconstruction has to be set on foot, have not +the women a special claim to be heard on the many questions which will +arise directly affecting their interests, and possibly meaning for +them large displacement of labour? I cannot think that the House will +deny that, and, I say quite frankly, that I cannot deny that claim." +It was clear the whole question of franchise would need to be gone +into--the soldiers' vote was lost to him under our system when he was +away, and the sailors' redistribution was long overdue, an election, +as things were, would be absolutely unrepresentative. So after several +attempts to deal with the problem in sections, a Committee was set +up under the Speaker of the House of Commons to go into the whole +question of Franchise reform and registration. + +The Committee was composed of five Peers and twenty-seven members of +the House of Commons, and started its work in October, 1916, and in +its report, April, 1917, it recommended, by a majority, that a measure +of enfranchisement should be given to women. + +The National Union of Women's Suffrage Societies and the Consultative +Committee, which had been formed in 1916 by the N.U.W.S.S., of +representatives of all constitutional societies, presented various +memorials, notably an admirable memorandum of women's work and opinion +in favour, prepared by the National Union for the Speakers' Conference +during its sittings. After its recommendations while the bill was +being drafted, Mrs. Henry Fawcett, LL.D., the President of the +N.U.W.S.S., headed a deputation received by the Premier, Mr. Lloyd +George, who has always been a supporter of Women's Suffrage. This was +certainly one of the most representative and interesting deputations +that ever went to Downing Street. It numbered over fifty and every +woman in it represented a great section of industrial and war +workers--Miss Mary MacArthur, the Trade Union Leader was there, and +Miss Margaret Bondfield, Mrs. Flora Annie Steele, the authoress; Lady +Forbes Robertson, for actresses; Miss Adelaide Anderson, our +Chief Women Factory Inspector; Mrs. Oliver Strachey, Parliamentary +Honourable Secretary of the National Union, whose work has been +tireless and invaluable in the House; a woman munition worker, a woman +conductor, a railway woman worker, a woman chemist, a woman from a +bank, a clerk, a shipyard worker, a nurse, a V.A.D., an eminent +woman Doctor, a peeress in Lady Cowdray, who has done so much for the +British Women's Hospitals and so many other war objects, and women +representatives of every calling in the nation at peace and war. Mrs. +Pankhurst, who has been very active in war work, was also present on +the Premier's invitation, and Mrs. Fawcett brought a Welshwoman who +made her plea in her own language, the Premier's own, too, and the one +he loves to hear. In his reply, he assured them the bill would contain +a measure of enfranchisement for women as drafted, and he was quite +sure the House would carry it. + +The recommendations of the Speakers' Conference were an agreed +compromise, and the Representation of the People Bill, as it was +called on its introduction, has gone through very much on the lines +of the recommendations. It arranges for postal or proxy votes for +the soldier, the sailor and the merchant seaman, it simplifies the +qualifications for men, it retains the University vote for men and +extends it to women, and it enfranchises women of thirty years of age +on a residence qualification, and all wives of voters of the same age. +It disfranchises, for the time, the conscientious objector who will do +no national service. The age at which our men vote is twenty-one. The +higher age of the women was a compromise, which was accepted by all +women's societies and by labour women, though it was not the terms +they stood for--equality. + +If we had it on the same terms as men, we should very greatly +outnumber the men. There were over a million more women than men +before the war and a new electorate greater than all the men's numbers +brought in at once was not considered wise. To press for it would have +wrecked our chances. + +This measure enfranchises six million women, and about ten million men +are now voters, so we have a very fair proportion. + +The women's clause was carried, with only thirty-five dissentients and +later only seventeen voted against it. + +In this same bill, with practically no discussion, an amendment was +carried enfranchising the wives of local government electors. + +It is difficult to adequately express the confidence, the desire, and +the willingness to co-operate, that there is now between our men and +women. + +We know, too, that the great woman's movement of our country, which +has worked to this end for fifty years and numbered our greatest women +among its adherents, has had much to do with the ability of our women +to take the great part they have in this crisis. If women had not +toiled and opened education and opportunities to women, and preached +the necessity of full service, we could not have done it. + +One great thing the war has done for our women is to draw us all +closely together--in common sorrows, hopes and fears, we find how much +we are one and in so much of our work women of every rank of life +are together. We had that union before in many ways, but never so +completely as now. _Punch_ has a delightful picture that summed up +how we are mixed in soldier's canteens, and huts and buffets, and +Hospitals, which show a little Londoner saying to a meek member of the +aristocracy "washing up," "Nar, then, Lady Halexandra, 'urry up with +them plaites," and we have an amusing little play of the same kind. +The society girl who washes down the Hospital steps, and washes up for +hours, and carries meals up and down stairs in her work, week after +week, and month after month, and year after year, in our Hospitals, +knows what work is now, and the soldier who is served, and the +soldier's sister and wife, learns something, too, about her that is +worth learning. + +We have also learned a great deal in our welfare work, and the welfare +supervisors and the workers both have benefited, and the heads of +the innumerable hostels, which we have built everywhere for our +girls--dozens in our new Government-built munition cities, have been +of very real help and service to the girls. A tactful, sensible, +educated woman has a great deal to give that helps the younger girl, +and can look after and advise her as to health, work, leisure and +amusements in a way that leaves real lasting benefit. + +In the munition works, well educated women, women with plenty of +money, women who never worked before, work year after year beside the +working girl. Just at first some of the working girls were not quite +sure of her, but it is all right long, long ago, and they mutually +admire each other. The well-off woman works her hours and takes her +pay, and takes it very proudly. I have been told many times by these +women who, for the first time know the joy of earning money, "I never +felt so proud in my life as when I got my first week's money." And the +men in the factories learn a lot, too. "Women have been too much kept +back," was the comment of a foreman in a shell factory to the Chief +Woman Factory Inspector on a visit she was paying to it. The skilled +men, teaching the women, have learned a great deal about them, too, +and have helped the women in so many ways. Men have been amazed at the +ability and power and capacity for work of the women and are, on the +whole, very willing to say so and express their admiration. + +One munition girl writes: "The timekeeper, quite a gorgeous gentleman +in uniform, gave us quite a welcome.... The charge-hand of the +Welder's shop helped us to start, and stayed with us most of Friday. +He was most kind, and showed us the best way to tackle each job, did +one for us, and then watched us doing it." + +Another says, "Our foreman is a dear old man, so kind and full of fun. +The men welders are awfully good to us." + +In considering the practical facts of new opportunities for women, one +thing is clear. Masses of our women took their new work as "temporary +war workers," but as the war has gone on, it has become clearer and +clearer that, in many cases, these tasks are going to be permanently +open to women. One reason is that many of the men will never return to +take up their work again--another, that many of them will never return +to what they did before. + +They have been living in the open-air, doing such different things, +such big vistas have opened out that they will never be content to +go back to some of their tasks. There is the other fact that we, +like every other country, will need to repair and renovate so much, +will need to create new and more industries, will need to add to our +productiveness to pay off our burdens of debt, and to carry out our +schemes of reconstruction, so women will still be needed. Our women, +in still greater numbers, will not be able to marry, and the best +thing for any nation and any set of women is to do work, and there +will be plenty of room for all the work our women can do. Many will go +back to home work, of course; there are large numbers who are working +in our country, only while their husbands are away, and when they +return will find their work in their homes again. + +We are offering special training opportunities to the young widow of +the soldier or officer. + +In special branches of work our opportunities are very much greater +and better. Medicine is one of the professions in which women have +very specially made good. Better training opportunities have opened, +more funds have been raised to enable women of small means to get +medical education, and the Queen herself gave a portion of a gift of +money she received, for this purpose. Most medical appointments are +open to them now and they have been urged by the great medical bodies +to enter for training in still greater numbers in the different +Universities, and have done so. + +More research is being done by them in every department. In +professions such as accountancy, architecture, analytical chemistry, +more and more women are entering. In the banking world women have done +very satisfactory work, and one London bank manager, asked to say what +he thought of prospects after the war, says he is very strongly of +opinion it will continue to be a profession for women after the war. +This manager thinks the question of higher administrative posts being +open to women will depend entirely on themselves and their work, and +what they prove capable of achieving and holding, they will certainly +have. + +In the war, one profession, in particular, has come nearer to finding +its rightful place than ever before--the teaching profession. Their +salaries which, in too many cases, were disgracefully low, have been +raised. The woman teacher has shown her capacity in new fields of +work in the boys' schools, but it is in another sense that their +profession, both men and women, but very specially the women, have +achieved a very real gain in the war. + +The teachers of the country have done a very great deal of war work +of every kind. The National Register of 1915 was largely done by their +labour. The War Savings Associations and Committees owe a great debt +to teachers and inspectors, who are the backbone of the movement, +headmistresses are asked constantly to help in securing trained women, +taught to work in Hospitals on their holidays, on land, in organizing +supplies and comforts in canteens and clubs, and more and more are put +on official Committees in their towns and districts. + +It means the teacher is finding the status and position the teachers +in their profession ought to have in their communities, and the war +has done a great deal towards achieving that desirable end, though +there is still a good deal to be done. + +In the Government Service there has undoubtedly been great +opportunities for women, especially those of organizing, executive and +secretarial ability--and in many cases the payment in higher posts +is identical for men and women, and higher posts, if they have the +ability, are freely given to women and the whole position of women +in our Civil Service is improved. In the very highest posts, such as +those of Insurance and Feeble-minded Commissioners, etc., women before +the war received the same salaries as men. + +The organizing ability and the common sense way in which our women +in voluntary organization, quite rapidly, themselves decided what +organizations were unnecessary and merely duplicating others, and +refused to help them, so that they died out quite quickly, roused +admiration, and the war has educated vast numbers of women in +organization and executive ability. Women who never in their lives +organized anything, and never kept an account properly, are doing +all kinds of useful work. One nice middle-aged lady whose War Savings +Association accounts were being kept wrongly, or rather were not +really being kept at all, when told they must be done fully and +correctly by one of our National Committee representatives, said, "Oh, +but you see, I never did anything but crochet before the war"; but we +have succeeded in making even the crochet ladies keep accounts and do +wonderful things. + +In the great world of mechanics and engineering, women are doing +a wonderful amount of work and, there is no doubt, will remain in +certain departments after the war. One danger there is in the women's +attitude--so many of our women have learned one branch of work very +quickly, that there probably will be a tendency to believe that +anything can be learned as easily. There are only certain departments +of mechanics that can be learned in a few months' time, and women will +probably go on doing these. Such work as theirs in optical munitions, +has shown their very special aptitude for it and in law-making, +etc., they will be used more and more. Women have successfully done +tool-setting and can go on with that. The training for civil and +mechanical engineering is long, but there will be, if women are +keen and will train, plenty of opportunity for them in peace-time +occupations in civil, mechanical or electrical branches in connection +with municipal, sanitary and household questions and in laundries, +farms, etc. The women architects and these women could very well +co-operate closely. + +Women clerks and secretaries will remain largely after the war. +Fewer men will want these posts as we are convinced there will be big +movements among our men to more active work, to the land and to the +Dominions overseas. + +Women on the land will in numbers stay there, and there is a distinct +movement among women with capital to go in for farming, market +gardening, bee-keeping, poultry-keeping, etc., still more. + +The war has made more of our fathers and mothers realize the right +of their daughters to education and training, and there are very few +parents in our country now, who think a girl needs to know nothing +very practical, and has no need to go in for a profession. Our women's +colleges have more students than ever and the war has done great +things in breaking down these old conventional ideas. The war, in +fact, has shaken the very foundations of the old Victorian beliefs in +the limited sphere of women to atoms. Our sphere is now very much more +what every human being's sphere is and ought to be--the place and work +in which our capacity, ability or genius finds its fullest vent--and +there is no need to worry about restricting women or anyone else to +particular spheres--if they cannot do it, they cannot fill the sphere, +and that test decides. The dear old Victorian dugouts grow fewer and +fewer in number, but we never must forget that the great powers of +women have not come in a night, miraculously, in the war. They are the +result of long years of patient work before, and we women, who have +had these great opportunities, must see to it that we nobly carry on +the traditions of teaching and training and qualifying ourselves for +service, bequeathed to us from older generations. + +One thing, too, despite the war tasks and strain, we have not lost +sight of the fact that the great fundamental tasks of keeping the +house, guarding and seeing to the children must be well done. Just for +a little, some of our tasks of child welfare had fewer workers, but +many of the women realized the value of all these tasks as supreme, +and took up the work freely. Child welfare work in particular the +Suffrage woman organized and worked, Glasgow Suffragists taking on the +visiting of babies, always done there, in a whole ward of the city, +and in other towns they started Day Nurseries. + +Lord Rhondda at the Local Government Board instituted Baby week and +we hope to found a Ministry of Health very soon. So in the War we have +realized even more vividly how great and valuable and important these +tasks of women are. A very great amount of work for child welfare has +been done by our women in the war, and our infant death rate is going +still lower. + +The war has done a great service in drawing women of all the Allied +Nations together--a service whose greatness and magnitude it is not +easy to fully realize. French and English men and women know so much +more of each other now. Our hospitals in France, our Canteens for +French Soldiers, as well as our own, our women and the French women +working side by side in our army clerical departments and ordnance +depots in France, the Belgians and French who are among us in such +large numbers, make us known to each other. In Serbia we have made +many friends and in Italy and Russia and Romania, all links for the +future, and helps to wider knowledge and understanding. It is on +understanding the hopes of the world rest, and we women have a great +part to play in that. + +With America our link has always been very great and all the help, +and gifts, and service America gave us before it entered the war, +have been very precious to us. American women have given Hospitals +and ambulances and everything possible in the way of succour and of +service, and have died with our women in nursing service, as the men +have in our ranks. + +Massachusetts sent a nurse to France, Miss Alice Fitzgerald, in memory +of Edith Cavell, which shows the unity of your feeling and ours +on that tragic execution, and her work under our War Office in +Queen Alexandra's Imperial Army Nursing Service with the British +Expeditionary Force, as well as the work of all the American nurses we +have had helping us, is another link in the great chain. Our own great +Commonwealth of Nations are nearer to each other than ever before. +There were even people among us who thought a little as the enemy did +that our Dominions would not stand by us--stupid and blind people. + +It is their fight as well as ours--the common fight of all free +peoples, and all our united nations stand together, including those +who only a few years ago were fighting us as brave foes. + +We have learned so much in great ways and in small ways, in economies +and in the care of all our resources, too. We women are more careful +in Britain now. We save food, and grow more, and produce more, and +maids and mistresses work together to economize and help. We gather +our waste paper and sell it or give it to the Red Cross for their +funds, give our bottles and our rags, waste no food and save and lend +our money. We could not have been called a thrifty nation before the +war--we are much more thrifty now, in many ways, though there are +still things we could learn. + +In the Women's Army and in so much of our work we are learning +discipline and united service--learning what it means to be proud of +your corps and to feel the uniform you wear or the badge is something +you must be worthy of--and it goes back to being worthy of your own +flag and of the ideals for which we all stand in these days. + +And the young wives who are married and left behind, who bear their +children with their husbands far away in danger, who have had no real +homes yet, but who wait and hope, they are very wonderful in their +courage and pluck--and, most of all, everywhere, our women, like our +men, wisely refuse to be dreary. There are enough secret dark hours, +but in our work we carry on cheerfully, the women know the soldiers' +slogan, "Cheero," and to Britain and to "somewhere on the fronts," the +same message goes and comes. + +Of the great spiritual worths and values, it has brought to women very +much what it has brought to men. All eternal things are more real, all +eternal truths more clearly perceived. When the whole foundations of +life rock under us, in where "there is no change, neither shadow of +turning," the heart rests more surely in these days. + +It has brought us agonies and tears, weariness and pain, self-denial +and great sorrows, but it has brought such riches of self-sacrifice, +such service, such love, has shown us such peaks of revelation and +vision to which the soul and the nation can attain, that we count +ourselves rich, though so much has gone. + +To think of what we might have been if we had refused to bear our +share--to look back on the evils of luxury and selfishness that were +creeping over us, makes us feel that we may have lost some things, +but "what shall it profit a man if he gain the whole world and lose +his own soul." And we have saved our soul. The souls of the nations +travail in a new birth through a night of agony and tears. The +purposes being worked out are so great, that it is difficult for us +to see them with our limited human vision, but in great moments of +insight we do see, and having seen, go back to our tasks in the light +of that vision, knowing that though now we fight in dim shadows with +monstrous and awful evils of mankind's creation, the day is coming +nearer and the light will come. + +An age is dying and a new age comes, and what it shall be only the men +and women of the world can answer. + + + + +RECONSTRUCTION + + + "The tumult and the shouting dies-- + The captains and the Kings depart-- + Still stands thine ancient sacrifice, + An humble and a contrite heart. + Lord God of Hosts; be with us yet, + Lest we forget, lest we forget." + + --RUDYARD KIPLING. + + "We shall not cease from mental fight, + Nor shall our sword sleep in our hand, + Till we have built Jerusalem, + In England's green and pleasant land." + + --W. BLAKE. + + + + +CHAPTER XIV + +RECONSTRUCTION + + +And what is to come after? The first and the last and the greatest +thing to do is to win the war and to get the right settlement. Unless +we finish this struggle with the nations free, there can be no real +reconstruction. The greatest work of reconstruction--the fundamental +work--will be at the peace table. Those who are giving everything +and doing everything to gain victory for the Allies, are the true +reconstructors of the world. + +The first great task of reconstruction is victory and the second is +right peace settlements. + +We cannot say that anything we can do will make future peace certain, +but we can see that just and righteous settlements are made, so that +the foundations are laid that ought to ensure peace in the future. +There is no real peace possible while injustices exist. + +There is no real peace possible while evil and good contend for +mastery, and the spiritual conflicts of man are, and will be, as +terrible as any physical conflicts. While mankind stands where it does +now, it is well that against corruption of spirit and thought, we can +use our bodies as shields. + +The fact that we have had to fight Germany physically, shows clearly +that spiritually and mentally we were unable to make them see truth +and honour, and the meaning of freedom, and that the ideal of peace +made no real appeal to them. + +They built up in their nation great thought forces of aggression, of +belief in militarism, of worship of might, of belief that war paid, +and was in itself good, that there was no conscience higher than the +state. They even worship God as a sort of tribal God whom they call +upon to work with them--not a question as to whether they are on God's +side--no--an assertion that God is on theirs. + +That was their thought--and the thoughts of the other nations were +bent on problems of freedom and growing democracy, of widening +opportunities, of political and commercial interest, were, on the +whole, the vaguely good thoughts of evolving democracies (with notable +exceptions), but not the clear powerful thoughts needed to fight +effectually those of Germany in the fields of intellect and spirit. + +People did not see the full evil of Germany's thought--it was tied up +with so much that was efficient and good and able, and we were only +half articulate as to our own beliefs, and not even thoroughly clear +or agreed about them, and Germany considered us slack and inefficient, +and believed we might even be induced to consent to seeing Europe +overrun and doing nothing. We did not believe, despite warning, that +any nation thought as Germany did and we seemed, in their minds, to be +people to be dominated and swept over. + +One interesting fact to note is that Germany, despite its boasted +knowledge of psychology, did not realise that England possesses a +definite sub-conscious mind which always guides its actions. The +sub-conscious mind of England is a desire for fair play, for justice, +and a very definite sense of freedom. England is the creator of +self-government and its sub-conscious mind, built up for centuries, +is a very definite and real thing. + +The sub-conscious mind of Germany, filled with these dominating ideas +of power and _Weltmacht_ and militarism, goes on, once set free, to +its logical end, and it seems clearer and clearer that there is no +real end to this struggle till we make the mind and soul of Germany +realize its crimes and mistakes, till they are sane again and talk the +A, B, C of civilization. The real reconstruction of the world begins +there. + +That end reached and settlements justly done, we may consider schemes +for a League of Nations and practical possibilities of work in +international organizations to prevent disputes leading to war. + +The work of reconstruction must be international, as well as national, +but the people who do, and will do, the best international work +are the people who do the best national work. The individuals who +are not prepared to spend time and service and effort to make +their own country better and nobler, are going to do nothing for +internationalism that is worth doing. The heart that finds nothing to +love and work for in its neighbour is the heart that has nothing to +bring to the whole world. + +Again, there must be reparation by the enemy. We cannot reconstruct +this world rightly if we do not enforce justice. A nation that has +broken every international and human law is a nation that must be made +to pay for its crimes as far as human justice can secure it. + +Our six thousand murdered merchant seamen, the thousands of passengers +they have killed, the civilians they have bombed, are marshalled +against them, and the horrors of their frightfulness, deliberately +planned and carried out against the peoples they have held in bondage, +their refusal to even feed properly their prisoners and captive +people--are we to be told to reconstruct a world without reparation +for these and their other crimes? + +We shall have a reconstructed world with right foundations, only when +the nations know that justice is throned internationally, and that +every crime is to be judged and punished. There can be no new world +without living faith, without real religion. A cheap and sentimental +humanitarism is no substitute for real faith--philosophies that seem +adequate in ordinary times are poor things when the soul of man +stands stripped of all its trappings and faces death and suffering and +watches agonies. Then the abiding eternal soul knows its own reality +and its oneness with the Divine and eternal, and the sacrifice of +Christ is a real living thing--and in the men's sacrifice they are +very near to Him. + +So the Churches are being tested, too, in this great crisis, and in a +reconstructed world we shall want Churches that carry the message of +Christianity with a clearer and firmer voice, but that is the task of +all believers. We cannot cast the duty of making the Church a living +witness on our priests alone--it is our work, and unless our faith +goes into everything we do, it is no use. People who profess a faith, +and carefully shut it up in a compartment of their lives, so that +it has no real connection with their work, are worse than honest +doubters--because they betray what they profess. + +So reconstruction rests upon great spiritual tasks and values, and +upon the willingness and ability of the nations to carry these out. + +In our country, our political parties are going to be changed and +reconstructed. The Labour Party has already made a big appeal +to "brain and hand workers," and has announced its scheme of +re-organization. + +One definite result of the war in the minds of the people of our +country is the definite mental discarding of state socialism of the +bureaucratic kind as a conceivable system of government. We have seen +bureaucracy at work to a great extent, and shall undoubtedly have +to continue control in many ways after peace comes, but we do not +like it. Socialism will have to go on to new lines of thought and +development if it wishes to achieve anything--and the most interesting +thought and schemes are on the lines of Guild Socialism. + +How the great Liberal and Unionist Parties will emerge, we cannot +say--but this we know, they will be different. We have a new +electorate, more men and the women, and the opinion and needs of the +women will undoubtedly affect our political reconstruction. Most of +us, in the war, have entirely ceased to care for party; even the most +fierce of partisans have changed, and the "party appeal," in itself, +will be of little account in our country. + +I feel sure we shall scrutinize measures and men and programmes more +carefully, and the work of educating our women will be part of the +women's great tasks in reconstruction. + +Our ability to reconstruct and renew rests fundamentally upon our +financial condition--even the power to make the best peace terms rests +upon it. Crippled countries cannot stand out for the best terms, so +finance is all-important. + +The democratic nature of our loans is all-important, too. We have had +people suggesting that these loans would be repudiated--a suggestion +that is not only absurd, but is humorous when one realizes that about +ten million of our people have invested in them. To get a House of +Commons elected that would repudiate these loans would be a difficult +task. + +The widespread nature of the loans is sound for the people and the +Government, and will help us not only to win the war, but, what is +still more important, "to win the peace." We have in this struggle +paid more and better wages to our people than ever before, conditions +have been improved, masses of our people have led a fuller existence +than ever before. We want to make these and still better conditions +permanent. We cannot do that by a military victory only--we can only +do it by finishing financially sound, and the man or woman who saves +now and invests is one of our soundest reconstructors. + +In the readjustments in industry that must come there will be +temporary displacements, and the money invested will be invaluable +to those affected. In our great task of reorganizing industries, of +renovating and repairing, of building up new works and adding to our +productiveness, finance is all-important. We shall need large sums for +the development of our industry, for the transferring of war work back +to peace pursuits, for the opening up of new industries and work, for +the development of trade abroad and the selfish using up of resources +that could be conserved, makes the work harder--might even, if +extravagantly large, cripple us seriously at the end of this struggle. + +The sacrifices of our men can achieve military victory, but weakness +and self-indulgence at home can take the fruits of their victories +away. + +Those who are working and saving in our War Savings Movement are so +convinced of its value, not only to the state, but to the individual, +and for the character of our people, that they have expressed the very +strongest conviction that it should go on after the War, and it will +probably remain in our reconstruction. + +We have also urged the wisdom of saving for the children's education +and for dots for daughters, so that our young women may have some +money in emergencies, or something of their own on marriage, and both +of these are being done. + +The great problem of education bulks very large in our reconstruction +schemes. A new Education Bill for England and Wales has been prepared +by Mr. Fisher--and his appointment is in itself a sign of our new +attitude. He is Minister of Education and is really an educationist, +having been Vice-Chancellor of Sheffield University when given the +appointment. His Bill puts an end to that stigma on English education, +the half-time system in Lancashire, and raises the age for leaving +school to what it has been in Scotland for some years--sixteen years +of age. It provides greater opportunities for secondary and technical +training and improves education in every way. Its passage, or the +passage of a still better Bill, is essential for any real work in +reconstruction. + +There are other schemes of education being planned and considered, and +women are working with men on the education committee of the Ministry +of Reconstruction. + +The land question is all-important in reconstruction. We have fixed a +minimum price for wheat for five years, as well as minimum wages for +the labourers on land, men and women, and we have schemes and land +for the settlement of soldiers. It is safe to predict that agriculture +will be better looked after than it was before the war, and that we +have learned a valuable lesson on food production, and the value of +being more self-supporting. + +There are people who talk airily and foolishly of "revolutions after +the war"--of great labour troubles, of exorbitant and impossible +demands, of irreconcilable quarrels. These people are themselves the +creators and begettors of trouble, and mischievous in the highest +degree. They belong, though they are much less attractive, to the same +category as the person who tells you that the moral regeneration of +the world is coming from this great war. + +The "revolutionists" have to learn that there is no need to have any +such crises happen, that they can only happen if we are foolish beyond +belief and conception--for we have learned in this war how great and +ample is the common meeting ground of all of us, how impossible it is +for anyone to believe that we, who have fought together, suffered +and lost together, while our men have died together, cannot find in +consideration of claims enough common sense and wisdom to prevent any +such disaster. + +And one wonders where the people are going to be found who are going +to be so unjust to the workers as to provide any reason for such +dangers to be feared, for we know one thing in the war, that in the +trenches, on the sea, behind the trenches and carrying on at home, the +workers have done the greater part--and they, in their turn, know all +others have borne their share. Out of such common knowledge and the +consciousness that the practical work of democracy is to raise its +people more and more, we shall have not revolution, but evolution of +the best kind. And the moral regeneration of the world will come if we +reconstruct the one thing that matters most and that is fundamental +to all--ourselves--and it will not come if we do not. When one +has said everything there is to be said of schemes and hopes of +reconstruction--about the schemes for better homes, and a great +housing scheme is wisely one of the foundation schemes of our +reconstruction, for which plans are now being prepared, about schemes +for the care of children, about schemes for endowment of motherhood, +which are exercising the minds of many of our women, you are back +again to the individual. When you think of education schemes, and +schemes for teaching national service to the young, of work to +teach care and thrift, you are back again to the problem of creating +character. + +When you go into the great world of industry and its problems, of care +of the workers in health and sickness, of securing justice and full +opportunities, of developing and wisely using our resources, again you +return to the individual. + +When you want to make the art and beauty of life accessible to all, +you come back to the question as to the individual's desire for it and +appreciation of it. + +Schemes in theory may be perfect--reconstruction may be planned +without a flaw--but what does that help if we as individuals are blind +and selfish? + +The regeneration of the world cannot come from the sacrifice of our +men alone, or even of some of us at home. The few may save countries +and do great things, but the work of reconstruction rests on +everybody. Nations are made up of individuals, and a nation cannot +hope for moral and social regeneration except through individual +self-denial, self-sacrifice and service. + +It is in our own hearts and our own minds that the great task of +reconstruction must be done. + +The greatest task of reconstruction for most of us is to make all +our actions worthy of our highest self--to bring to the problems that +confront us, not one detached and prejudiced bit of us, but the whole +mind and spirit of ourselves--the best of us always in unity. + +That is life's greatest task, and calls for all we have to give, and +all we are. There lies true reconstruction and the hope of all the +world. + + + + +APPENDIX + + + + +APPENDIX + + +American Women's War Relief Fund, 123 Victoria Street, London, S.W. 1. + +Association of Infant Consultation and Schools for Mothers, 4 +Tavistock Square, London, W.C. 1. + +British Women's Hospital, Bond Street, London, W. 1. + +Glove Waistcoat Society, 75 Chancery Lane, E.C. 4. + +Ministry of Food, Mrs. Pember Reeves, Mrs. C.S. Peel, Grosvenor House, +W. 1. + +National Federation of Women's Workers. + +Women's Trade Union League, 34 Mecklenburgh Square, W.C. 1. + +National Union of Women's Suffrage Societies. + +Scottish Women's Hospitals, 62 Oxford Street, W.C. 1. + +Women's Interests Committee, 62 Oxford Street, W.C.I. + +National War Savings Committee, Salisbury Square, E.C. 4. + +National Union of Women Workers (Women Patrols), Parliament Mansions, +Victoria Street, S.W.I. + +Queen Mary's Needlework Guild, St. James Palace, S.W.I. + +National Food Economy League, 3 Woodstock Street, Oxford Street, +W.C.I. + +Prisoners of War, Help Committee, 4 Thurloe Place, Brompton Road, W. + +Women's Army Auxiliary Corps, Devonshire House, W. 1. + +Women's Branch, Food Production Department, Board of Agriculture, 72 +Victoria Street, S.W.I. + +Women's Service Bureau, L.S.W.S., 58 Victoria Street, S.W. 1. + +Women's National Land Service Corps, 50 Upper Baker Street, W. 1. + +Women Police Service, St. Stephens House, Westminster, S.W.I. + +Young Women's Christian Association, 25 George Street, Hanover Square, +W. 1. + +V.A.D., Lady Ampthill, Devonshire House, W. 1. + + * * * * * + +MINISTRY OF MUNITIONS + + + +PUBLICATIONS OF HEALTH OF MUNITION WORKERS' COMMITTEE + + +The following Memoranda have been prepared by the Committee and +issued: + +No. 1--Sunday Labour. + +No. 2--Welfare Supervision. + +No. 3--Industrial Canteens. + +No. 4--Employment of Women. + +No. 5--Hours of Work. + +No. 6--Canteen Construction and Equipment (Appendix to No. 3). + +No. 7--Industrial Fatigue and Its Causes. No. 8--Special Industrial +Diseases. + +No. 9--Ventilation and Lighting of Munition Factories and Workshops. + +No. 10--Sickness and Injury. + +No. 11--Investigation of Workers' Food and Suggestions as to Dietary. +(Report by Leonard E. Hill, F.R.S.) + +No. 12--Statistical Information Concerning Output in Relation to Hours +of Work. (Report by H.M. Vernon, M.D.) + +No. 13--Juvenile Employment. + +No. 14--Washing Facilities and Baths. + +No. 15--The Effect of Industrial Conditions Upon Eyesight. + +No. 16--Medical Certificates for Munition Workers. + +also, Feeding the Munition Worker. + + +Published by H.M. STATIONERY OFFICE, + +London, W.C. + + + + + +--------------------------------------------------------------+ + |You have read this book and you will agree with the Publisher | + |that it ought to have an immediate and wide distribution. Will| + |you help him to eliminate wasteful advertising by sending the | + |post card enclosed, giving your opinion of the book to one of | + |your friends. | + \ / + \ / + ---------------------------------------------------------- + | AND | + ---------------------------------------------------------- + / \ + / \ + |Since you have probably seen the imprint of G. Arnold Shaw | + |on a book for the first time, will you spend a few minutes | + |scanning the following pages, to discover what the best | + |critical opinion is upon other recent Shaw publications. They | + |are intended for the discriminating few as our trademark, | + |"Aere Perennius"--"more lasting than brass," indicates. | + +--------------------------------------------------------------+ + + + +BOOKS BY MEMBERS OF THE UNIVERSITY LECTURERS + +A significant proof of the growth of the Association's influence in +recent years is afforded by the fact that our Secretary, Mr. G. Arnold +Shaw, has been enabled to enter the publishing field successfully. We +reverse thus the plan of campaign of the ordinary lecture bureau which +is usually impressed with the possibilities of a man who has won fame +as an author rather than as a lecturer; we discover that a man is a +first rate lecturer and then we proceed to make him an author--also of +the front rank as the reviews quoted below show. + +ART AND ARCHITECTURE + +BY IAN C. HANNAH, F.S.A. + + Some Irish Religious Houses........ .50 + Irish Cathedrals................... .50 + +BY I.B. STOUGHTON HOLBORN + + The Need for Art in Life. (Third Thousand)........... .75 + "One of the greatest little books of the Age."--Boston Transcript. + + Architectures of European Religions, Illustrated.... 2.00 + +AUTOBIOGRAPHY + +The interest of these books depend not merely upon the interesting +personality of the famous lecturer and the equally fascinating +personalities of his two brothers, but also on the exquisite literary +style to which the critics have paid such eloquent testimony. + +BY JOHN COWPER POWYS AND LLEWELLYN POWYS + + Confessions of Two Brothers....... 1.50 + +BY THEODORE FRANCIS POWYS + + The Soliloquy of a Hermit......... 1.00 + This book can be compared to Amiel's Journal in the opinion of a + prominent London publisher. + + + + +ESSAYS AND CRITICISM + + +The essays contained in the following books deal with the best lecture +subjects of our various members; they are specially recommended to +those who wish to pursue further the study outlined in our lecture +courses. + +BY I.B. STOUGHTON HOLBORN + + THE NEED FOR ART IN LIFE........... 75 + + "The thoughtful man who reads it will feel that a new + classic has been added to the world's literature."--BOSTON + TRANSCRIPT. + + +BY JOHN COWPER POWYS + + VISIONS AND REVISIONS, A Book of Literary Devotions 2.00 + + "Seventeen essays remarkable for the omission of all that is + tedious and cumbersome in literary appreciations."--REVIEW + OF REVIEWS. + + + SUSPENDED JUDGMENTS, Essays on Books and Sensations 2.00 + + "Anything written by John Cowper Powys is arresting and thrilling. + This is superlatively true of his essays in literary + criticism."--CINCINNATI ENQUIRER. + + "A book of infinite delight to the book lover, for few present day + writers have the ability in the same measure as Mr. Powys + to express every shade of impression and sensation, and + his ripe judgment will appeal to all."--BOSTON GLOBE. + + + ONE HUNDRED BEST BOOKS, with commentary and an + essay on Books and Reading.............. 75 + + "Of each of the hundred books he gives a brief, sparkling, + thoroughly informative and delightfully interesting + critical view. If book reviewers could do the job as well + as Mr. Powys, the book pages would be the most popular + part of a newspaper."--EVENING TELEGRAM, PHILADELPHIA. + + * * * * * + +FICTION + + +Critics of literature seldom succeed as creative artists and so it +is specially remarkable that the highest authorities give even more +unqualified praise to the fiction of our members than to their +essays. We need not emphasize further our lack of appreciation for +the literary value of "best-sellers"; our aim has not been to produce +topical tracts for the times but novels that will survive. It is more +to us that competent critics should compare Mr. Powys' fiction to that +of Hardy, Dostoievsky and Emily Bronte than that the public should buy +it by the hundred thousand. Those who are not convinced that "you can +place 'Wood and Stone' unhesitatingly at the side of Dostoievsky's +masterpieces" should reflect that this is not the over-enthusiasm of +"America's newest Publisher" but the verdict of a London publisher +who has long held a pre-eminent position; it is therefore peculiarly +satisfactory to point out that our first novel "Wood and Stone" was + +PUBLISHED UNDER THE IMPRINT OF + +WILLIAM HEINEMANN G. ARNOLD SHAW + + [Illustration] [Illustration] + + IN LONDON IN NEW YORK + +FICTION + + BY IAN CAMPBELL HANNAH + QUAKER-BORN, A ROMANCE OF THE GREAT WAR............ 1.35 + + BY I.B. STOUGHTON HOLBORN + THE CHILD OF THE MOAT, A story of 1557 for girls... 1.25 + "Of such absorbing interest and literary merit that it + will doubtless take its place among the classics."--ART + AND ARCHAEOLOGY. + + BY JOHN COWPER POWYS + WOOD AND STONE, A Romance reminiscent of the + great Dostoievsky ................................. 1.75 + + "One of the best novels of the year."--EVENING POST, + NEW YORK. + + "His mastery of language, his knowledge of human + impulses, his interpretation of the forces of nature + and of the power of inanimate objects over human + beings, all pronounce him a writer of no mean rank. + He can express philosophy in terms of narrative + without prostituting his art; he can suggest an + answer without drawing a moral; with a clearer + vision he could stand among the masters in literary + achievement."--BOSTON TRANSCRIPT. + + "Psychologically speaking, it is one of the most remarkable + pieces of fiction ever written."--CHICAGO TRIBUNE. + + RODMOOR, A Romance of the old Thrilling Romantic + Order............1.50 + + "It is so far above the average English and American + fiction that one can well exempt it from the necessity + of following the rules. He has intellect, he has taste, + he has a sure instinct for what is aesthetically fine. + These qualities in themselves make his 'Rodmoor' a + novel of exceptional distinction."--BOSTON TRANSCRIPT. + + "Without exception the most exquisitely written + novel of the year."--ATLANTIC MONTHLY. + +HISTORY AND TRAVEL + + BY IAN CAMPBELL HANNAH, M.A., D.C.L., F.S.A. + Eastern Asia, A history 2.50 + Capitals of the Northlands, A Tale of ten cities 2.00 + The Heart of East Anglia (A History of Norwich) 2.00 + The Berwick and Lothian Coast 2.00 + + +POETRY + + BY I.B. STOUGHTON HOLBORN + CHILDREN OF FANCY 2.00 + "A Notable volume of Verse."--Boston Globe. + + BY JOHN COWPER POWYS + WOLF'S-BANE 1.25 + "We hesitate to say how many years it is necessary + to go back in order to find their equals in + sheer poetic originality."--Evening Post, New York. + MANDRAGORA 1.25 + + +THE WAR + + BY IAN CAMPBELL HANNAH + ARMS AND THE MAP 1.25 + + BY JOHN COWPER POWYS + THE WAR AND CULTURE .60 + "More weighty than many of the more pretentious + treatises on the subject."--The Nation. + +Any of the above books sent post-free on receipt of price by + +[Illustration: (G. ARNOLD SHAW PUBLISHER, NEW YORK)] + + * * * * * + +RECOMMENDED BY THE A.L.A. BOOKLIST + +SPECIALLY SUITABLE FOR SCHOOLS AND COLLEGES + +ARMS AND THE MAP + +A STUDY IN NATIONALITIES AND FRONTIERS + +BY IAN CAMPBELL HANNAH, M.A., D.C.L. + +12mo, 256 pages, $1.25 net + +This work, which has had a large sale in England, will be invaluable +when the terms of peace begin to be seriously discussed. Every +European people is reviewed and the evolution of the different +nationalities is carefully explained. Particular reference is made +to the so-called "Irredentist" lands, whose people want to be under +a different flag from that under which they live. + +The colonizing methods of all the nations are dealt with, and +especially the place in the sun that Germany hasn't got. + + NEW YORK TIMES says: "Such a volume as this will undoubtedly + be of value in presenting ... facts of great importance in a + brief and interesting fashion." + + BROOKLYN DAILY EAGLE says: "It is hard to find a man who + presents his arguments so broad-mindedly as Dr. Hannah. His + spirit is that of a catholic scholar striving earnestly to + find the truth and present it sympathetically." + + PHILADELPHIA NORTH AMERICAN says: "It is in no sense history, + but rather a preparatory effort to mark broadly the outlines + of any future peace settlement that would have even a fighting + chance of permanency. Only in perusing a critical study of + this character can the vast problems of post-bellum imminence + be fully apprehended." + + PHILADELPHIA PRESS says: "His work is immensely readable and + particularly interesting at this time and will throw much + fresh light on the situation." + +OTHER BOOKS BY IAN C. HANNAH + + Eastern Asia, A History $2.50 + Capitals of the Northlands (A tale of ten cities) 2.00 + The Berwick and Lothian Coast (in the County Coast Series) 2.00 + The Heart of East Anglia (A History of Norwich) 2.00 + Some Irish Religious Houses (Reprinted from the + _Archæological Journal_) 50c + Irish Cathedrals (Reprinted from the _Archæological Journal_) 50c + +G. ARNOLD SHAW PUBLISHER TO THE UNIVERSITY LECTURERS ASSOCIATION + + * * * * * + +GRAND CENTRAL TERMINAL NEW YORK + + * * * * * + +RECOMMENDED BY THE A.L.A. BOOKLIST + +ADOPTED FOR REQUIRED READING BY THE PITTSBURGH TEACHERS READING CIRCLE + +VISIONS AND REVISIONS + +A BOOK OF LITERARY DEVOTIONS + +BY JOHN COWPER POWYS + +8vo, 298 pp. Half White Cloth with Blue Fabriano Paper Sides, $2.00 +net + +This volume of essays on Great Writers by the well-known lecturer +was the first of a series of three books with the same purpose as the +author's brilliant lectures; namely, to enable one to discriminate +between the great and the mediocre in ancient and modern literature: +the other two books being "One Hundred Best Books" and "Suspended +Judgments." + +Within a year of its publication, four editions of "Visions and +Revisions" were printed--an extraordinary record considering that +it was only the second book issued by a new publisher. The value of +the book to the student and its interest for the general reader are +guaranteed by the international fame of the author as an interpreter +of great literature and by the enthusiastic reviews it received from +the American Press. + + REVIEW OF REVIEWS, New York: "Seventeen essays ... remarkable + for the omission of all that is tedious and cumbersome + in literary appreciations, such as pedantry, muckraking, + theorizing, and, in particular, constructive criticism." + + BOOK NEWS MONTHLY, Philadelphia: "Not one line in the entire + book that is not tense with thought and feeling. With + all readers who crave mental stimulation ... 'Visions and + Revisions' is sure of a great and enthusiastic appreciation." + + THE NATION AND THE EVENING POST, New York: "Their imagery is + bright, clear and frequently picturesque. The rhythm falls + with a pleasing cadence on the ear." + + BROOKLYN DAILY EAGLE: "A volume of singularly acute and + readable literary criticism." + + CHICAGO HERALD: "An essayist at once scholarly, human and + charming is John Cowper Powys.... Almost every page carries + some arresting thought, quaintly appealing phrase, or picture + spelling passage." + + REEDY'S MIRROR, St. Louis: "Powys keeps you wide awake in the + reading because he's thinking and writing from the standpoint + of life, not of theory or system. Powys has a system but it is + hardly a system. It is a sort of surrender to the revelation + each writer has to make." + + KANSAS CITY STAR: "John Cowper Powys' essays are wonderfully + illuminating.... Mr. Powys writes in at least a semblance of + the Grand Style." + +"Visions and Revisions" contains the following essays:-- + + Rabelais Dickens Thomas Hardy + Dante Goethe Walter Pater + Shakespeare Matthew Arnold Dostoievsky + El Greco Shelley Edgar Allan Poe + Milton Keats Walt Whitman + Charles Lamb Nietzsche Conclusion + +G. ARNOLD SHAW PUBLISHER TO THE UNIVERSITY LECTURERS ASSOCIATION + +GRAND CENTRAL TERMINAL NEW YORK + + * * * * * + +SUSPENDED JUDGMENTS + +ESSAYS ON BOOKS AND SENSATIONS + +BY JOHN COWPER POWYS + +8vo. about 400 pages. Half cloth with blue Fabriano paper sides $2.00 +net + +_The Book News Monthly_ said of "Visions and Revisions": + +"Not one line in the entire book that is not tense with thought and +feeling." + +The author of "Visions and Revisions" says of this new book of essays: + +"In 'Suspended Judgments' I have sought to express with more +deliberation and in a less spasmodic manner than in 'Visions,' the +various after-thoughts and reactions both intellectual and sensational +which have been produced in me, in recent years, by the re-reading of +my favorite writers. I have tried to capture what might be called the +'psychic residuum' of earlier fleeting impressions and I have tried +to turn this emotional aftermath into a permanent contribution--at any +rate for those of similar temperament--to the psychology of literary +appreciation. + +"To the purely critical essays in this volume I have added a certain +number of others dealing with what, in popular parlance, are called +'general topics,' but what in reality are always--in the most extreme +sense of that word--personal to the mind reacting from them. I have +called the book 'Suspended Judgments' because while one lives, one +grows, and while one grows, one waits and expects." + +SUSPENDED JUDGMENTS CONTAINS THESE ESSAYS: + +THE ART OF DISCRIMINATION IN LITERATURE + + MONTAIGNE EMILY BRONTE + PASCAL JOSEPH CONRAD + VOLTAIRE HENRY JAMES + ROUSSEAU OSCAR WILDE + BALZAC AUBREY BEARDSLEY + VICTOR HUGO + DE MAUPASSANT FRIENDS + ANATOLE FRANCE RELIGION + PAUL VERLAINE LOVE + REMY DE GOURMONT CITIES + WILLIAM BLAKE MORALITY + BYRON EDUCATION + +G. ARNOLD SHAW PUBLISHER TO THE UNIVERSITY LECTURERS ASSOCIATION + + GRAND CENTRAL TERMINAL NEW YORK + + * * * * * + + +ONE HUNDRED BEST BOOKS + +WITH COMMENTARY AND AN ESSAY ON + +BOOKS AND READING + +BY JOHN COWPER POWYS + + +This list is designed to supply the need of persons who wish to +acquire a general knowledge of such books in world-literature as are +at once exciting and thrilling to the ordinary mind and written in the +style of the masters. It recognizes the fact that modern people are +most interested in modern books; but it recognizes also that such +books, to be worthy of this interest, must uphold the classical +tradition of manner and form. + +80 Pages 12mo. 75 Cents + +[Illustration: (G. ARNOLD SHAW PUBLISHER. NEW YORK)] + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 14676 *** diff --git a/14676-h/14676-h.htm b/14676-h/14676-h.htm new file mode 100644 index 0000000..8761b84 --- /dev/null +++ b/14676-h/14676-h.htm @@ -0,0 +1,7291 @@ +<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN" + "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd"> +<html> +<head> +<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=UTF-8" /> +<title>The Project Gutenberg eBook of Women and War Work, by Helen Fraser</title> + <style type="text/css"> + /*<![CDATA[*/ + + <!-- + body {margin-left: 10%; margin-right: 10%;} + p {text-align: justify;} + blockquote {text-align: justify;} + h1,h2,h3,h4,h6 {text-align: center;} + h5 {text-align: left;} + pre {font-size: 0.7em;} + + hr {text-align: center; width: 50%;} + html>body hr {margin-right: 25%; margin-left: 25%; width: 50%;} + hr.full {width: 100%;} + html>body hr.full {margin-right: 0%; margin-left: 0%; width: 100%;} + hr.short {text-align: center; width: 20%;} + html>body hr.short {margin-right: 40%; margin-left: 40%; width: 20%;} + + .note + {margin-left: 10%; margin-right: 10%; font-size: 0.9em;} + + span.pagenum + {position: absolute; left: 1%; right: 91%; font-size: 8pt;} + + .poem + {margin-left:10%; margin-right:10%; margin-bottom: 1em; text-align: left;} + .poem .stanza {margin: 1em 0em 1em 0em;} + .poem p {margin: 0; padding-left: 3em; text-indent: -3em;} + .poem p.i2 {margin-left: 1em;} + .poem p.i4 {margin-left: 2em;} + .poem p.i6 {margin-left: 3em;} + .poem p.i8 {margin-left: 4em;} + .poem p.i10 {margin-left: 5em;} + + .figure, .figcenter, .figright, .figleft + {padding: 1em; margin: 0; text-align: center; font-size: 0.8em;} + .figure img, .figcenter img, .figright img, .figleft img + {border: none;} + .figure p, .figcenter p, .figright p, .figleft p + {margin: 0; text-indent: 1em;} + .figcenter {margin: auto;} + .figright {float: right;} + .figleft {float: left;} + + .footnote {font-size: 0.9em; margin-right: 10%; margin-left: 10%;} + + p.author {text-align: right; margin-right:10%;} + a:link {color:blue; + text-decoration:none} + link {color:blue; + text-decoration:none} + a:visited {color:blue; + text-decoration:none} + a:hover {color:red} + --> + /*]]>*/ + </style> +</head> +<body> +<div>*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 14676 ***</div> +<h1>The Project Gutenberg eBook, Women and War Work, by Helen Fraser</h1> +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<hr class="full" /> + <h1>WOMEN AND WAR WORK</h1> + <hr /> + <span class="pagenum"><a name="page2" + id="page2"></a>[pg 2]</span> + + <div class="figcenter" + style="width:30%;"> + <a href="images/plate2.jpg"><img width="100%" + src="images/plate2.jpg" + alt="A FEW SHELLS" /></a>A FEW SHELLS + </div> + <hr /> + <span class="pagenum"><a name="page3" + id="page3"></a>[pg 3]</span> + + <h2>Women and War Work</h2> + + <h2>HELEN FRASER</h2> + +<p> </p> +<div class="poem"> + <div class="stanza"> + <p><i>No easy hopes or lies</i></p> + + <p><i>Shall lead us to our goal,</i></p> + + <p><i>But iron sacrifice</i></p> + + <p><i>Of Body, Will, and Soul.</i></p> + + <p><i>There is but one task for all—</i></p> + + <p><i>For each one life to give.</i></p> + + <p><i>Who stands if Freedom fall?</i></p> + + <p><i>Who dies if England live?</i></p> + </div> + </div> + + <p class="author"><i>Rudyard Kipling in "For All We Have and Are."</i></p> + + <div class="figcenter" + style="width:25%;"> + <a href="images/3.png"><img width="100%" + src="images/3.png" + alt="" /></a> + </div> + + <center> + 1918 + </center> + + <h6>G. Arnold Shaw<br /> + New York</h6> +<p> </p> + <hr /> + <span class="pagenum"><a name="page5" + id="page5"></a>[pg 5]</span> + + <center> + DEDICATED + </center> + + <center> + TO + </center> + + <center> + MOTHER, + </center> + + <center> + ANNE, + </center> + + <center> + AND THE BOYS. + </center> + <hr /> + <span class="pagenum"><a name="page7" + id="page7"></a>[pg 7]</span> + + <h3>CONTENTS</h3> + + <p>Chapter Page</p> + + <p>1. THE SPIRIT OF WOMEN <a href="#page19">19</a></p> + + <p>2. ORGANIZATION AND ITS PITFALLS + <a href="#page35">35</a></p> + + <p>3. HOSPITALS—RED CROSS—V.A.D. + <a href="#page53">53</a></p> + + <p>4. BRINGING BLIGHTY TO THE SOLDIERS—HUTS, COMFORTS, + ETC. <a href="#page73">73</a></p> + + <p>5. WOMAN-POWER FOR MAN-POWER <a href="#page91">91</a></p> + + <p>6. WOMEN AND MUNITIONS <a href="#page109">109</a></p> + + <p>7. THE PROTECTION OF WOMEN IN INDUSTRY + <a href="#page131">131</a></p> + + <p>8. "THE WOMEN'S LAND ARMY" <a href="#page155">155</a></p> + + <p>9. WAR SAVINGS—THE MONEY BEHIND THE GUNS + <a href="#page171">171</a></p> + + <p>10. FOOD PRODUCTION AND CONSERVATION + <a href="#page195">195</a></p> + + <p>11. THE W.A.A.Cs <a href="#page215">215</a></p> + + <p>12. WAR AND MORALS <a href="#page235">235</a></p> + + <p>13. WHAT THE WAR HAS DONE FOR WOMEN + <a href="#page259">259</a></p> + + <p>14. RECONSTRUCTION <a href="#page287">287</a></p> + <hr /> + <span class="pagenum"><a name="page9" + id="page9"></a>[pg 9]</span> + + <h3>ILLUSTRATIONS</h3> + + <p>A FEW SHELLS <a href="#page2">Frontispiece</a></p> + + <p>MISS EDITH CAVELL <a href="#page22">22</a></p> + + <p>DR. ELSIE INGLIS <a href="#page22">22</a></p> + + <p>FIRST AMBULANCE ON DUTY IN THE FIRST ZEPPELIN RAID + <a href="#page56">56</a></p> + + <p>"SOMEWHERE IN FRANCE" <a href="#page64">64</a></p> + + <p>CLEANING A LOCOMOTIVE <a href="#page94">94</a></p> + + <p>WOMEN AS CARRIAGE CLEANERS <a href="#page94">94</a></p> + + <p>WINDOW CLEANERS <a href="#page102">102</a></p> + + <p>STEAM ROLLER DRIVER <a href="#page102">102</a></p> + + <p>TRAINING WOMEN AS AEROPLANE BUILDERS + <a href="#page112">112</a></p> + + <p>RIVETTING ON BOILERS <a href="#page116">116</a></p> + + <p>FACING BOILER BLUE FLANGES <a href="#page116">116</a></p> + + <p>ROUGH TURNING JACKET FORGING OF 6-POUNDER HOTCHKISS GUN + <a href="#page124">124</a></p> + + <p>HOW TO DRESS FOR MUNITION MAKING + <a href="#page136">136</a></p> + + <p>BACK TO THE LAND <a href="#page162">162</a></p> + + <p>WOMEN TACKLE A STRONG MAN'S PROBLEM + <a href="#page162">162</a></p> + + <p>SIX REASONS WHY YOU SHOULD BUY WAR SAVINGS CERTIFICATES + <a href="#page175">175</a></p> + + <p>"FOR YOUR CHILDREN" <a href="#page184">184</a></p> + + <p>BOOK MARKS ISSUED BY THE N.W.S.C. + <a href="#page192">192</a></p> + + <p>W.A.A.Cs ON THE MARCH <a href="#page216">216</a></p> + + <p>WOMEN OF THE RESERVE AMBULANCE + <a href="#page216">216</a></p> + + <p>POLICE WOMEN <a href="#page246">246</a></p> + <hr /> + <span class="pagenum"><a name="page11" + id="page11"></a>[pg 11]</span> + + <h3>FOREWORD</h3> + + <p>"Our War Loan from England"—That is the heading under + which were grouped the nine lectures given by Miss Helen Fraser + at Vassar College. England has borrowed a billion or so of + dollars from us, but the obligation is not all her way. The + moral strength of our cause is immeasurably increased by her + alliance, and the spectacle of a great democracy organizing + itself for complete unity in a world crisis is worth an + incalculable amount to us. Such a vision Miss Fraser has + brought to her wider public among the women of America in this + notable book. Of her personal influence let me quote again from + the Vassar students' newspaper:</p> + + <p>"Miss Fraser, here's to you! We don't need to say that we + liked Miss Fraser and everything she had to tell us. The way we + followed her around, and packed every room in which she spoke, + out to the doors and sometimes up to the ceiling, is proof + enough of that. And even the + <span class="pagenum"><a name="page12" + id="page12"></a>[pg 12]</span> fact that it was Sunday could + not check our outburst of song in the Soap Palace as Miss + Fraser departed. Her gracious speech of appreciation left + with us the question not phrased by her before, but + certainly in the minds of every one of us who had been + hearing her: 'What are <i>we</i> going to do?'"</p> + + <p>An unsolicited testimonial, this, of the most genuine kind. + The College students of today are not easily coaxed into + lecture rooms outside of their own classes.</p> + + <p>I believe that Miss Fraser's book will be read with the same + eager attention that followed her first speeches in this + country as she began her work of educating American women to a + sense of what the mobilization of the entire citizen army of a + democracy must mean.</p> + + <p>Nor will her influence cease there. Miss Fraser's book is a + piece of history; and history is action. The wonderful work of + the women of England is already emulated by the splendid + efforts along many lines of the women in our country. The new + lessons of co-operation and of + <span class="pagenum"><a name="page13" + id="page13"></a>[pg 13]</span> selfless devotion, learned + from this book will, I confidently predict, within a few + months, be translated into action by the Women's War Service + Committees in every state of our land.</p> + + <p>And the greatest lesson of all is that women and men must + work together in this new world. I count it an + honour—being a man—to be asked to introduce Miss + Fraser in this way to the American public. For my part I would + have no separate women's division, except such as concerns the + tasks exclusively for women. I would have women side by side + with men in every division of labour, working out the task with + equal fidelity, equal authority, and equal rewards. One of the + results of this amazing age is going to be the new + comprehension, understanding, and sympathy of the one sex for + the other.</p> + + <p class="author">H.N. MacCRACKEN.</p> + + <div class="poem"> + <div class="stanza"> + <p>Vassar College,</p> + + <p>Poughkeepsie, New York.</p> + + <p>January 11, 1918.</p> + </div> + </div> + <hr /> + <span class="pagenum"><a name="page15" + id="page15"></a>[pg 15]</span> + + <p>The women of all the allies are one in this great struggle. + Our hopes and our fears, our anxieties and our prayers, our + visions and our desolations, are the same.</p> + + <p>Our work is the same task of supporting and sustaining the + energies of our men in arms and of our nations at home. All the + allied women know more of each other than they ever did before, + and this is all to the good.</p> + + <p>The task of women in this struggle and in the reconstruction + to come after, are great tasks, and the world needs in every + country not only the wisdom and knowledge of its own women but + the strength in them that comes from being one of a great + world-wide group and conscious of the unity of all women.</p> + + <p>Anything that can help to that unity and understanding seems + to me of great value, and this record is written for American + women in the hope it may be of some small service.</p> + + <p class="author">H.F.</p> + + <blockquote> + <p>December 25, 1917.</p> + </blockquote> + <hr /> + <span class="pagenum"><a name="page17" + id="page17"></a>[pg 17]</span> + + <h3>THE SPIRIT OF WOMEN</h3> + + <blockquote> + <p>"I have no fear nor shrinking. I have seen death so + often that it is not strange or fearful to me.... I thank + God for this ten weeks' quiet before the end. Life has + always been hurried and full of difficulty. This time of + rest has been a great mercy. They have all been very kind + to me here. But this I would say, standing as I do in view + of God and eternity, I realise that patriotism is not + enough. I must have no hatred or bitterness towards + anyone."</p> + </blockquote> + + <p class="author">—EDITH CAVELL's last message.</p> + <hr /> + <span class="pagenum"><a name="page19" + id="page19"></a>[pg 19]</span> + + <h3>CHAPTER I</h3> + + <h2>THE SPIRIT OF WOMEN</h2> + + <h4>TO WOMEN</h4> + + <div class="poem"> + <div class="stanza"> + <p>Your hearts are lifted up, your hearts</p> + + <p class="i2">That have foreknown the utter price,</p> + + <p>Your hearts burn upward like a flame</p> + + <p class="i2">Of splendour and of sacrifice.</p> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <p>For you too, to battle go,</p> + + <p class="i2">Not with the marching drums and + cheers,</p> + + <p>But in the watch of solitude</p> + + <p class="i2">And through the boundless night of + fears.</p> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <p>And not a shot comes blind with death,</p> + + <p class="i2">And not a stab of steel is pressed</p> + + <p>Home, but invisibly it tore,</p> + + <p class="i2">And entered first a woman's breast.</p> + </div> + </div> + + <p class="author">From LAWRENCE BINYON's "For the Fallen."</p> + + <p>The spirit of women in this greatest of world struggles + cannot, in its essence, be differentiated from the spirit of + men. They are one. The women of our countries in the mass feel + about the issues of this struggle just as the men do; know, as + they do, why we fight, and like them, are going on to the end. + The declarations of our Government as to conditions for peace + are ours, too, and when we vote, we shall show the spirit of + women is clearly and <span class="pagenum"><a name="page20" + id="page20"></a>[pg 20]</span> definitely on the side of + freedom, justice and democracy.</p> + + <p>Our actions speak louder than any words can ever do, and the + record of our women's sacrifices and work stand as great silent + witnesses to our spirit. There is nothing we have been asked to + do that we have not done and we have initiated great pieces of + work ourselves. The hardest time was in the beginning when we + waited for our tasks, feeling as if we beat stone walls, + reading our casualty lists, receiving our wounded, caring for + the refugees, doing everything we could for the sailor and + soldier and his dependants, helping the women out of work, but + feeling there was so much more to do behind the men—so + very much more—for which we had to wait. We did all the + other things faithfully and, so far as we could, prepared + ourselves and when the tasks came, we volunteered in tens of + thousands, every kind of woman, young, old, middle-aged, rich + and poor, trained and untrained, and today we have 1,250,000 + women in industry directly replacing men, 1,000,000 in + munitions, 83,000 additional + <span class="pagenum"><a name="page21" + id="page21"></a>[pg 21]</span> women in Government + Departments, 258,300 whole and part-time women workers on + the land. We are recruiting women for the Women's Army + Auxiliary Corps at the rate of 10,000 a month and we have + initiated a Women's Royal Naval Service. We have had the + help of about 60,000 V.A.D.'s (Voluntary Aid Detachment of + Red Cross) in Hospitals in England and France, and on our + other fronts, in addition to our thousands of trained + nurses.</p> + + <p>The women in our homes carry on—no easy task in these + days of shortages in food and coal and all the other + difficulties, saving, conserving, working, caring for the + children, with so many babies whose fathers have never seen + them, though they are one to two years old, and so many babies + who will never see their fathers.</p> + + <p>Some of our women have died on active service, doctors, + nurses and orderlies. Our most recent and greatest loss is in + the death of Dr. Elsie Inglis, the initiator of the Scottish + Women's Hospitals, who died on November 26th, three days after + she had safely brought back her Unit + <span class="pagenum"><a name="page22" + id="page22"></a>[pg 22]</span> from South Russia, which had + been nursing the Serbians attached to the Russian army.</p> + + <p>One who was with her at the end writes, "It was a great + triumphant going forth." There was no hesitation, no fear. As + soon as she knew she was going, that the call had come, with + her wonted decision of character, she just readjusted her whole + outlook. "For a long time I <i>meant</i> to live," she said, + "but now I know I am going. It is so nice to think of beginning + a new job over there! But I would have liked to have finished + one or two jobs here first!"</p> + + <p>She told us the story of the breaking of their moorings as + they lay in the river in a great storm of wind and of how that + breaking had saved them from colliding with another ship. "I + asked," she said, "what had happened." Someone said "Our + moorings broke." I said, "No, a hand cut them!" Then, after a + moment's silence, with an expression in face and voice which it + is utterly impossible to convey, she added, "That same Hand is + cutting my moorings now, and I am going forth!" The picture + rose before you of an unfettered ship + <span class="pagenum"><a name="page23" + id="page23"></a>[pg 23]</span> going out to the wide sea and + of the great untrammelled, unhindered soul moving + majestically onwards.</p> + + <div class="figright" + style="width:25%;"> + <a href="images/plate23-1.jpg"><img width="100%" + src="images/plate23-1.jpg" + alt="MISS EDITH CAVELL" /></a>MISS EDITH CAVELL + </div> + + <div class="figright" + style="width:25%;"> + <a href="images/plate23-2.jpg"><img width="100%" + src="images/plate23-2.jpg" + alt="DR. ELSIE INGLIS" /></a>DR. ELSIE INGLIS + </div> + + <p>There was no fear, no death! How could there be. She never + thought of her own work—she knew unity. "You did + magnificently," was said to her within an hour of her going. + With all her wonted assurance and with a touch of pride she + answered, "My Unit did magnificently."</p> + + <p>Her loss is irreparable to us, but there is no room for + sorrow. She leaves us triumph, victory, and peace.</p> + + <p>Edith Cavell's name is another that shines upon our roll of + honour—the same serene great spirit—no thought of + self, but only a great love and desire to serve—and a + great fearlessness. Her message, before she went out alone at + dawn to her death, which added another stain to the enemy's + pages dark with blood, was the message of one who saw the + eternal verities, the things worth living and dying + for.</p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page24" + id="page24"></a>[pg 24]</span> + + <p>Our men's Roll of Honor is a heavy Roll. We have lost in + killed and permanently out of the army, a million men and over + 75 per cent of our casualties are our own Island losses. Our + women in every village and in every city street have lost + husbands, fathers, brothers, lovers and friends. From every + rank of life our men have died, the agricultural labourer, the + city clerk, the railway man, the miner, the engineer, the + business man, the poet, the journalist, the author, the artist, + the scientist, the heirs of great names, many of the most + brilliant of our young men. We comb out our mines and + shipyards, and factories, ceaselessly for more men. Our boys at + eighteen go into the army. From eighteen to forty-one every man + is liable for service. Our Universities have only a handful of + men in them and these are the disabled, the unfit, and men from + other countries. Oxford and Cambridge Colleges are full of + Officers' Training Corps men. The Examination Schools and the + Town Hall at Oxford are Hospitals, and Oxford and Cambridge + streets are full of the blue-clad wounded, as are so many + <span class="pagenum"><a name="page25" + id="page25"></a>[pg 25]</span> of our cities. We are a + nation at war, and at war for over three years and + everywhere and in everything we are changed.</p> + + <p>In these years we women have lived always with the shadow of + the war over us—it never leaves us, night or day. We do + not live completely where we are in these days. A bit of us is + always with our men on our many fields of war. We live partly + in France and Flanders, in Italy, in the Balkans, in Egypt and + Palestine and Mesopotamia, in Africa, with the lonely white + crosses in Gallipoli, with our men who guard us sleeping and + waking, going down to the sea in ships and under the sea, + fighting death in submarines and mines, and with those who in + the air are the eyes and the winged cavalry of our forces.</p> + + <p>We mourn our dead, not sadly and hopelessly, though life for + many of us is emptier forever, and for many so much harder, and + we wear very little mourning. We mourn silently, and with a + sure faith that our men's supreme sacrifice is not in vain. + "Greater love hath no man than this, + <span class="pagenum"><a name="page26" + id="page26"></a>[pg 26]</span> that he lay down his life for + his friend." The little white crosses of our graves + symbolize the faith for which they die.</p> + + <p>The message of our soldier poets who have been created by + this war and have written immortal verse, and many of whom have + died, is the message of men who have seen through the veils of + time into eternity, who are free of life and death, whom + nothing can hurt, "if it be not the Destined Will."</p> + + <p>The veils of time grow thin in these days to those of us who + take Death into our reckoning all the time. We think of our men + gone on ahead as eternally young.</p> + + <div class="poem"> + <div class="stanza"> + <p>"Solemn the drums thrill; Death august and royal</p> + + <p class="i2">Sings sorrow up into immortal + spheres.</p> + + <p>There is music in the midst of desolation</p> + + <p class="i2">And a glory that shines before our + tears.</p> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <hr class="short" /> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <p>"They shall not grow old, as we that are left grow + old</p> + + <p class="i2">Age shall not weary them, nor the years + condemn.</p> + + <p>At the going down of the Sun and in the morning</p> + + <p class="i2">We will remember them."</p> + </div> + </div> + + <p>We know, too, though we do not often define it, that the + forces we women fight in the enemy are + <span class="pagenum"><a name="page27" + id="page27"></a>[pg 27]</span> the forces that have left + women out in world affairs.</p> + + <p>Germany is the Fatherland, never, it is significant, the + Motherland as our little Islands are, and its mad dream of + militarism and <i>Weltmacht</i> is the dream of men who deny + any constructive part to women in the great affairs of life. + The hopes of all the democracies are bound up in this struggle + and its issue, and there is no real place in the world for the + true service and genius and work of women, any more than for + that of the mass of men, save in democracy. We mean so much in + these days by democracy. It seems to be indefinable in its + larger meanings. It is not a system of government, but, on the + other hand, no country can be called democratic that has not + established political freedom, and no country is truly + democratic in which such freedom is only in name, and its women + are not included or a group rule or the demagogue and the worst + kind of politician hold sway.</p> + + <p>Democracy is not here till all serve and all are given + opportunities so that they have something + <span class="pagenum"><a name="page28" + id="page28"></a>[pg 28]</span> of value to give to their + country and to the world. Democracy is the ever changing, + ever developing, ever creative spirit of man expressing + itself in his institutions and systems of government and + relationships.</p> + + <p>Its quarrel with our enemies, who would impose on the mass + of men cast-iron systems, and would set up state idols to be + worshipped as higher than the Conscience and spirit of man, is + so profound and goes so deeply into knowledge and feelings that + are too big for words, that the soldier who never tries to + express it but goes out and drills and works and disciplines + himself that he may present his body as a living shield for the + faith that is within him, and the woman who works with him and + behind him, healing and giving, silently, are perhaps wisest of + all.</p> + + <p>It is no time for words only, though right words are mighty + powers, but for living faith in deeds and the spirit of the + women of all our allied countries is swift to answer the + challenge—by their works shall ye know + them.</p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page29" + id="page29"></a>[pg 29]</span> + + <p>The spirit of our women shows, like that of the French women + who tend their farms, keep their shops, work ceaselessly + everywhere, most clearly and wonderfully in their work. In our + hundreds of hospitals night and day, they care for the wounded + and the sick and the dying, bringing consolation, love, skill, + heroism, patience and all fine things as their gift. From + myriads of homes they pour forth to their daily toil, carrying + on the work of the country, educating the children, taking the + place of their men on the railways, the factory, the workshop, + the banks and offices. In the munition works, in the shipyards, + in the engineering shops, in the aeroplane sheds, they work in + tens of thousands—risking life and health in some cases, + but thinking little of it, compared with what their men are + doing, knee-deep in snow and mud and water in the trenches. "Is + the work heavy?" you ask. "Not so heavy as the soldiers'." "Are + the hours long?" "Six days and nights in the trenches are + longer." "We are going to win and you are going to help + us"—and the munition girl and the land girl and the + <span class="pagenum"><a name="page30" + id="page30"></a>[pg 30]</span> workers answer not only with + cheers and words but answer with shells and ships and + aeroplanes and submarines and food produced and conserved, + and in industrial tasks done by men and women together.</p> + + <p>The enemy airships and aeroplanes bomb our cities but our + girls "carry on"—no telephone girl has left her + post—there have been no panics in our workshops.</p> + + <p>And the spirit of the Waac—the khaki girl—is the + spirit of her brother.</p> + + <p>On one occasion in France in an air raid, enemy bombs came + very near some girl signallers. They behaved splendidly and + someone suggested it should be mentioned in the Orders of the + Day. "No," said the Commanding Officer, "we don't mention + soldiers in orders for doing their duty,"—and that + tribute to their attitude is deserved and the right one.</p> + + <p>And, like our men, we carry on cheerfully, knowing there is + only one possible end, victory. We fight for the sanctity of + the given word, for <span class="pagenum"><a name="page31" + id="page31"></a>[pg 31]</span> honour, for the rights of + individuals and nations, for the ideals that have preserved + humanity from barbarism, for the right of service, for the + salvation of common humanity.</p> + + <p>More, we women work with a feeling in our hearts that we, + who bear and cherish life, and to whom its destruction is most + terrible, have a great work to do and a great part to play in + the settlement of the problem of war in the future.</p> + + <p>The transmutation of the struggles of mankind from the + physical to the spiritual, the solution of national and + international problems, the solution of all the riddles of life + that demand an answer or man's conquest, cannot be done by man + alone. It is our task also and to the great work of building up + a new world after we emerge from this crucible of fire in which + the souls of the nations are being tested, the spirit of women + has much to bring.</p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page33" + id="page33"></a>[pg 33]</span> + + <h3>CHAPTER II</h3> + + <h2>ORGANIZATION AND ITS PITFALLS</h2> + + <div class="poem"> + <div class="stanza"> + <p>"The more they gazed, the more their wonder grew</p> + + <p>That one small head could carry all she knew."</p> + </div> + </div><span class="pagenum"><a name="page35" + id="page35"></a>[pg 35]</span> + + <p>There are people who declare that the winning of this war + depends on organization alone. That is palpably untrue. Good + organization can do much. The greatest thing in all + organizations is the living flame that makes grouping + real—the selfless spirit of service that the fighting man + possesses and that is beyond all words of praise.</p> + + <p>Talk to a soldier or a sailor, realize how he thinks and + feels about his ship, his battalion, his aircorps. He is + subordinated—selfless—disciplined. The secret of + the good soldiers' achievements and his greatness is selfless + service and in our national organizations behind him that same + spirit is the one great thing that counts.</p> + + <p>If you have that as a foundation among your workers, + organization is easy.</p> + + <p>We found, at the beginning of the war, a great tendency + among women to rush into direct war + <span class="pagenum"><a name="page36" + id="page36"></a>[pg 36]</span> work. Masses of women wanted + to leave work they knew everything about to go and do work + they knew nothing about. One thing we have realized, that + the trained and educated woman is invaluable, that the best + service you can render your country is to do the work you + know best and are trained for, if it is, as it frequently + is, important civic work. Another point, no younger woman + should stop her education or training—it is the + greatest mistake possible. The war is not over and even when + it is, the great task of reconstruction lies ahead and we + want every trained woman we can get for that. Our women are + in Universities and Colleges in greater numbers than ever, + and more opportunities for education, in Medicine in + particular have been opened to them.</p> + + <p>The trained woman makes the best worker in practically every + department and is particularly useful in organizing. A scheme + that is only indifferently good but, so far as it goes, is on + right lines, well organized and directed, will be more valuable + and get far better results than a perfect + <span class="pagenum"><a name="page37" + id="page37"></a>[pg 37]</span> scheme badly organized and + run. An organization or a committee that has a woman as + Chairman, President or Secretary, who insists on running + everything and deciding everything for herself, is bound for + disaster.</p> + + <p>I should certainly place the will and ability to delegate + authority high up in the qualifications a good organizer must + possess.</p> + + <p>We cannot afford to have little petty jealousies, social, + local, and individual, on war committees or any other for that + matter, but in this big struggle, they are particularly petty + and unworthy.</p> + + <p>We have all met frequently the kind of person who tells you, + "This village will never work with that village," or "Mrs. This + will never work with Mrs. That. They never do"; and I always + answer, "Isn't it time they learned to, when their boys die in + the trenches together, why shouldn't they work together," and + they always do when it is put to them.</p> + + <p>There is no difficulty in getting women to work together in + our country. We have a link in our + <span class="pagenum"><a name="page38" + id="page38"></a>[pg 38]</span> Roll of Honor that is more + unifying than any words or arguments or appeals can be. Our + women of every rank of life are closely drawn together.</p> + + <p>The appeal to women is to organize for National Service and + to realize that work of national importance is likely not to be + at all important work.</p> + + <p>The women in important places in all our countries will be + few in proportion, but the struggle will be won in the Nation, + as in the Army, by the army of the myriads of faithful workers + faithfully performing tasks of drudgery and quiet + service—and a realization of this is the greatest + need.</p> + + <p>Sticking to the work is of supreme importance. We do not + want people who take up something with great enthusiasm and + drop it in a few months. Nothing is achieved by that.</p> + + <p>The good organizer sees her workers do not "grow weary in + well doing."</p> + + <p>Another important work in organization is to prevent waste + of material, effort and money, by + <span class="pagenum"><a name="page39" + id="page39"></a>[pg 39]</span> co-ordination whenever + possible, though I should say, as a broad principle, + co-ordination should not be carried to the point of merging + together kinds of work that make a different appeal for work + and money and require different treatment and knowledge and + powers. The best results are reached by securing + concentration of appeal and organization on one big issue + and getting the work done by a group directly and keenly + interested in the one big thing and with enthusiasm for it + and knowledge of it.</p> + + <p>In the personnel of committees and their composition our + women have made it a definite policy to secure the appointment + of women to all Government and National Committees on which our + presence would be useful and on which we ought to be + represented and we always prefer committees of men and women + together, unless it be for anything that is distinctly better + served by women's committees.</p> + + <p>There is one pitfall in organization into which women fall + more readily than men in my experience. Our instinct as women + is to want to <span class="pagenum"><a name="page40" + id="page40"></a>[pg 40]</span> make everything perfect. We + instinctively run to detail and to a desire for absolute + accuracy and perfection.</p> + + <p>This is invaluable in many ways, but in organizing on a big + scale may be a serious fault. There must, of course, be method, + order and accuracy, but the great essential to secure in big + things is harmonious working—not to insist on a rigid + sameness but to allow for widely divergent views and attitudes + and ways of doing things so long as the essential rules are + observed. We should not insist too much on identity in the way + of work of different places and districts. In + essentials—unity; in non-essentials, liberty; in all + things, charity—that might well be the wise organizer's + motto.</p> + + <p>The supplementing of governmental organization by national + voluntary organization is a great piece of work and in the + beginning of the war, and still, many of our organizations, + voluntary or semi-official in character, were of great service. + The work of the Soldiers and Sailors Families' Association is + an example. The S. and <span class="pagenum"><a name="page41" + id="page41"></a>[pg 41]</span> S.F.A. had been created in + the South African War and in peace time and war time looked + after the dependants of the soldier and sailor. Its + committees were composed of men and women—and it + administered voluntary funds and later grants from the + National Relief Fund, raised at the outbreak of war.</p> + + <p>When war broke out, all the Reservists were called up and + our men volunteered in tens of thousands. The pay offices of + the army, being small like everything else in our army, could + not cope quickly with the numbers of claims for allowances + pouring in, but the S. and S.F.A. stepped into the breach and + looked after the dependants. It secured vast numbers more of + women in every town and village who visited every dependant and + looked after them. They advanced the allowances which were paid + back to them later—and this started in the first week of + the war. They gave additional grants in certain hard cases for + rent, sickness or in event of deaths in family at home. Every + home was visited and no dependant needed to be in distress + <span class="pagenum"><a name="page42" + id="page42"></a>[pg 42]</span> or want—S. and S.F.A. + offices existed in every town and representatives in every + village and any difficulty or trouble could be brought to + them. The whole of this work is done voluntarily. In some + cases workrooms were started from which sewing and knitting + for soldiers and sailors were given to the dependents and + paid for. It was not only the money and practical help that + was of great service—the S. and S.F.A. visitor to the + soldier's wife and mother brought sympathy and help and + interest.</p> + + <p>Another movement for soldiers and sailors dependents was the + founding of clubs for them in many towns. One hundred and + thirty-five of these clubs are linked up now in the United + Services Clubs League. They are bright, cheery rooms in which + the women can find newspapers, books, music, amusement, and + opportunity to sew or knit comforts, can meet their friends and + talk.</p> + + <p>The Royal Patriotic Fund was another semi-official + organization which was run voluntarily, gave grants at death of + soldier or sailor and <span class="pagenum"><a name="page43" + id="page43"></a>[pg 43]</span> administered pensions. It is + now entirely merged in the Naval and Military War Pensions + Statutory Committee and local committees set up in January, + 1916, which administer all grants, pensions, wound + gratuities, etc., and looks after dependants.</p> + + <p>Women sit on the Statutory Committee and there must be women + members on every County, Borough and City War Pensions + Committee in our country.</p> + + <p>The organization of war charities is now in England + controlled by the War Charities Committee appointed by the + Government in April, 1916. The committee controls not only what + could be strictly termed War Charities, but all war agencies of + any kind for which appeals for funds are made to the public. + These organizations must be registered and approved by the + committee, and their accounts must be open to inspection and + audit. This was a wise and necessary step, not so much because + of actual fraudulent appeals—there has been practically + none of that, but there was a certain amount of overlapping + <span class="pagenum"><a name="page44" + id="page44"></a>[pg 44]</span> and of waste of money, + material and energy, and some very few organizations in + which an undue proportion of funds raised was absorbed in + expenses. Comforts for soldiers and prisoners of war parcels + are also now co-ordinated under two national committees.</p> + + <p>The first work of registering Belgian refugees and of + providing French and Flemish interpreters was done by a + voluntary organization—the London Society for Women's + Suffrage (a branch of N.U.W.S.S.), which has always been + notable for its admirable organization. It provided 150 + interpreters for this work in a few days, and work was carried + on at all the London Centres from early morning till midnight. + When the Government took over the charge of Belgian refugees, + the system of registration used by the London Society was + adopted without change by them and the organizer in charge was + taken over also and put in a very responsible position at the + War Refugees Committee's Headquarters.</p> + + <p>The work of our Government Employment Exchanges (which were + established before the <span class="pagenum"><a name="page45" + id="page45"></a>[pg 45]</span> War by the Board of Trade) + and are now under the Ministry of Labour—has been + supplemented by various Professional Women's Bureaus, by the + compiling of a Professional Women's Register, secured + through Universities, Colleges, Headmistresses' Association, + etc., and by the setting up of the Women's Service Bureau by + the London Society for Women Suffrage (N.U.W.S.S.). Various + women's organizations have established most valuable + clearing houses for voluntary workers in Scotland and + England and Wales. The Women's Service Bureau has dealt with + 40,000 applications for voluntary and paid work—mostly + paid. Its interviewers take the greatest trouble to place + these applicants suitably, and to find out just what they + can do or would be good at doing.</p> + + <p>Our biggest Government arsenal secured their first munition + supervisors through it—and the Government Departments, + big firms, factories, organizations, banks, workshops, + institutions of any kind, send to it for workers.</p> + + <p>It not only finds these posts without charge—it + <span class="pagenum"><a name="page46" + id="page46"></a>[pg 46]</span> is supported entirely by + voluntary contribution—but it has a loan and grant + fund to enable women and girls without money to pay for + training and maintenance.</p> + + <p>Its records and the letters in its flies provide reading + that is as absorbing as any novel, and it was one of the wise + agencies that realized the older woman had a place and could + help as well as the younger ones.</p> + + <p>To find the person and the post and to put them together is + its fascinating and admirably done task.</p> + + <p>The organization done by women in Britain has been notable + and admirable.</p> + + <p>I can only touch on some of it and must leave out much, but + it is worth while noting that there has been very little + overlapping in the work. The total percentage of overlapping + was estimated by the War Charities Committee on their + investigation at 10 per cent and of that only a very small + amount was due to + women.</p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page47" + id="page47"></a>[pg 47]</span> + + <h3>WOMEN HAVE SERVED OR ARE SERVING ON THE FOLLOWING + GOVERNMENT COMMITTEES.</h3> + + <p>Belgian Refugees' Committee. 1914.</p> + + <p>Clerical and Commercial Occupation Committee, do (Scotland.) + 1915.</p> + + <p>Disabled Officers and Men.</p> + + <p>Education After the War. April, 1916.</p> + + <p>Educational Reform. (August, 1916.)</p> + + <p>Food, Committee of Inquiry Into High Cost of—June, + 1916.</p> + + <p>Advisory Committee on Women in Industry. March, 1916.</p> + + <p>Labor Commission to Deal with Industrial Unrest. (Ministry + of Labor.) June, 1917.</p> + + <p>Munitions Central Labor Supply Committee.</p> + + <p>Munitions, Arbitration Tribunals.</p> + + <p>Munitions, Committee on the Supply and Organization of + Women's Service in Canteens, Hostels, Clubs, etc. December, + 1916.</p> + + <p>Naval and Military War Pensions Statutory Committee. + January, 1916.</p> + + <p>Nurses, Supply of—October, + 1916.</p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page48" + id="page48"></a>[pg 48]</span> + + <p>Polish Victims' Relief Fund.</p> + + <p>Prevention and Relief of Distress. 1914.</p> + + <p>Professional Classes Sub-Committee.</p> + + <p>Prisoners of War Help Committee.</p> + + <p>Reconstruction Committee. (To advise the Government on the + many national problems which will arise at the end of the war.) + 1916.</p> + + <p>Shops: Committee of Inquiry, to Consider Conditions of + Retail Trade to Secure the Enlistment of Men. (November, + 1915.)</p> + + <p>Teachers' Salaries. Departmental Committee of Enquiry. June, + 1917.</p> + + <p>War Charities. April, 1916.</p> + + <p>National War Savings Committee. April, + 1916.</p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page49" + id="page49"></a>[pg 49]</span> + + <h3>COMMITTEES EXCLUSIVELY COMPOSED OF WOMEN.</h3> + + <p>Committee, Report on Joint Standing Industrial Councils. + 1917.</p> + + <p>Women's Wages Committee. 1917.</p> + + <p>Central Committee on Women's Employment. 1914.</p> + + <p>Drinking Among Women, Committee of Enquiry. November, + 1915.</p> + + <p>There are also two women on the—</p> + + <p>Executive Committee of National Relief Fund.</p> + + <p>Ministry of Food has two women Co-Directors—</p> + + <div class="poem"> + <div class="stanza"> + <p>Mrs. C.S. Peel</p> + + <p>Mrs. Pember Reeves</p> + </div> + </div><span class="pagenum"><a name="page51" + id="page51"></a>[pg 51]</span> + + <h3>CHAPTER III</h3> + + <h2>HOSPITALS—RED CROSS—V.A.D.</h2> + + <div class="poem"> + <div class="stanza"> + <p>"Come, ye blessed of my Father;</p> + + <p>I was sick and ye visited me."</p> + </div> + </div> + + <p class="author">—MATT., Chap. 25.</p> + + <div class="poem"> + <div class="stanza"> + <p>"A lady with a lamp shall stand</p> + + <p>In the great history of the land,</p> + + <p>A noble type of good</p> + + <p>Heroic womanhood."</p> + </div> + </div> + + <p class="author">—H.W. LONGFELLOW,<br /> + "To Florence + Nightingale."</p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page53" + id="page53"></a>[pg 53]</span> + + <p>When war broke out on August 4, 1914, probably the only + women in our country who knew exactly how they could help, and + would be used in the war, were our nurses in the Navy and Army + nursing services.</p> + + <p>In the Army, Queen Alexandra's Imperial Military Nursing + Service had in it at that time about 280 members, matrons, + sisters and staff nurses, Miss Becher, R.R.C., being + Matron-in-Chief for Military Hospitals. The Q.A.I.M.N.S. had a + large Reserve which was also immediately called out and these + nurses were used at once, six parties being sent to France and + Belgium by August 20th.</p> + + <p>The Second Branch was the Territorial Force Nursing Service, + which was in 1914 eight years old. It was initiated by Miss + Haldane and a draft scheme of an establishment of nurses + willing to serve in general hospitals in the event of + <span class="pagenum"><a name="page54" + id="page54"></a>[pg 54]</span> the Territorial Forces being + mobilized, was submitted at a meeting held in Miss Haldane's + house, Sir Alfred Keogh, Medical Director General, being + present. This scheme was approved and an Advisory Council + appointed at the War Office.</p> + + <p>The Matrons of the largest and most important nurse-training + centres in the Kingdom were appointed as principal matrons + (unpaid) and to them the success of this Force is largely due. + They received the applications of matrons, sisters and nurses + willing to join, looked after their references and submitted + them, after approval by the Local Committee, to the Advisory + Council. To their splendid work was due the ease of the vast + mobilization of nurses when war broke out. There were then + 3,000 nurses on their rolls. On August 5th they were called out + and in ten days 23 Territorial General Hospitals in England, + Wales and Scotland were ready to receive the wounded and the + nurses were also ready.</p> + + <p>Each hospital had 520 beds, but this accommodation was quite + inadequate after a few months + <span class="pagenum"><a name="page55" + id="page55"></a>[pg 55]</span> of war, and the accommodation + of practically every hospital was increased to 1,000 to + 3,000 beds and many Auxiliary Hospitals had to be organized. + By June, 1915, the Territorial Nursing Staff was 4,000 in + number and in Hospitals in France and in Belgium and in + clearing stations, there were over 400 Territorial Nurses as + well as Imperial Nurses.</p> + + <p>The Naval Nurses were about 70 in number with a Reserve, and + their Reserve was called up at once also, and they went to + their various Hospitals. The other two great organizations, the + British Red Cross and the order of St. John of Jerusalem, now + working together through the joint committee set up to + administer the <i>Times</i> Fund for the Red Cross, which has + reached over $30,000,000, had their schemes also. In time of + war they are controlled by the War Office and Admiralty. The + Red Cross had, since 1909, organized Voluntary Aid Detachments + to give voluntary aid to the sick and wounded in the event of + war in home territory. There were 60,000 men and women trained + in transport work, cooking, + <span class="pagenum"><a name="page56" + id="page56"></a>[pg 56]</span> laundry, first aid and home + nursing. St. John's ambulance had the same system of + ambulance workers and V.A.D.'s to call on.</p> + + <p>As the war proceeded it was quite clear that the nursing + staffs, though we had secured 3,000 more trained nurses through + the Red Cross in the first few weeks of the war, would be quite + inadequate, and it was found necessary to use V.A.D.'s and to + open V.A.D. Hospitals, most of them being established in large + private houses lent for the purpose. Within nine months there + were 800 of these at work in every part of England, Scotland + and Wales. The V.A.D.'s suffered a little at first from + confusion with the ladies who insisted on rushing off to France + after taking a ten day's course in first aid. We had suffered a + great deal from that kind of thing in the South African War and + were determined to have no repetition of it, so they were + firmly and decisively removed from France without delay.</p> + + <div class="figright" + style="width:30%;"> + <a href="images/plate58.jpg"><img width="100%" + src="images/plate58.jpg" + alt="FIRST AMBULANCE ON DUTY IN THE FIRST ZEPPELIN RAID ON LONDON" /> + </a>FIRST AMBULANCE ON DUTY IN THE FIRST ZEPPELIN RAID ON + LONDON + </div> + + <p>To get more trained nurses, rules were relaxed and the age + limit raised. Many nurses, retired and married, returned to + work, but very quickly <span class="pagenum"><a name="page57" + id="page57"></a>[pg 57]</span> it was perfectly clear our + trained nurses were inadequate in number for the great work + before us, and in less than a year in most hospitals every + ward had one V.A.D. worker assisting who had been nominated + by her Commandant and County Director, and in March, 1915, + the Hospitals were asked by the Director General of the Army + Medical Service to train V.A.D.'s in large numbers as + probationers, for three or six months, to fit them for work + under trained nurses. Every possible woman, trained or + partially trained, was mobilized and thousands have been + trained during the three years of war, and V.A.D. members + have been drafted to military and Red Cross Hospitals, + abroad and at home, in addition to doing the work of the + V.A.D. Hospitals. A V.A.D. Hospital with a hundred beds will + have two trained nurses, and all the other work is done by + V.A.D.'s. The Commandant-in-Chief now is Lady Ampthill. Dame + Katharine Furse was Commandant-in-Chief until quite + recently, but is now head of the new Women's Royal Navy + Service.</p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page58" + id="page58"></a>[pg 58]</span> + + <p>Many have gone to France and done distinguished work and + there is no body of women in our country who have done more + faithful and useful work than our V.A.D.'s, who nurse, cook and + wash dishes, serve meals, scrub the floors, look after the + linen and do everything for the comfort and welfare of our men, + with a capacity, zeal and endurance beyond praise. About 60,000 + women have helped in this way. Our nurses and V.A.D.'s have + distinguished themselves at home and abroad. They have been in + casualty lists on all our fronts. They have been decorated for + bravery and for heroic work. The full value of all they have + done cannot yet be appraised. They have spent themselves + unceasingly in caring for our men. They have nursed them with + shells falling around. Hospitals have frequently been shelled + and in one case two nurses worked in a theatre, wearing steel + helmets during the bombardment, with patients who were under + anaesthetics and could not be moved. They have waited out + beside men who could not be got in from under shell fire of the + enemy until darkness <span class="pagenum"><a name="page59" + id="page59"></a>[pg 59]</span> fell. Two V.A.D. nurses in + another raid saw to the removal of all their patients to + cellars and, while they themselves were entering the cellars + after everyone was safe, bombs fell upon the building they + had just left and completely demolished it. Some of our + nurses have died of typhus. They have been wounded in + Hospitals and on Hospital Trains, and they have done all + their work as cheerfully and with the same high courage as + our men have. We have had helping us in our nursing numbers + of Canadian nurses, not only for the beautiful Canadian + Hospital at Beechborough Park, but for many other Hospitals + in England and France, and nurses from Australia and New + Zealand.</p> + + <p>We have had American nurses, also, but these will now be + absorbed, as needed, by the American Army in France.</p> + + <p>The records of our Medical women in the war are among the + very best. The belief that nursing was woman's work but that + medicine and surgery were not, was dying before the war, but it + existed, and it was the war that gave it the final + <span class="pagenum"><a name="page60" + id="page60"></a>[pg 60]</span> death blow. Immediately war + broke out Dr. Louisa Garrett Anderson, a daughter of our + pioneer woman doctor, Dr. Elizabeth Garrett Anderson, and + Dr. Flora Murray formed the Women's Hospital Corps, a + complete small unit and offered it to the British + Government. It was refused but accepted by the French + Government, and was established by them at Claridge's Hotel + in Paris, where it did admirable work. Its work aroused the + interest and admiration of the British Royal Army Medical + Corps, and they were asked to form a Hospital at Wimereux, + which afterwards amalgamated with the R.A.M.C. Later Sir + Alfred Keogh established them in Endell Street, London, + where they have a Hospital of over 700 beds. The women + surgeons and doctors and staff are graded for purposes of + pay in the same way as men members of R.A.M.C.</p> + + <p>In July, 1916, the War Office asked for the services of 80 + medical women for work at home and abroad, and later for 50 + more.</p> + + <p>The Women's Service League sent a unit to + <span class="pagenum"><a name="page61" + id="page61"></a>[pg 61]</span> Antwerp which did some + excellent work, though it was there only a very short time. + The members of the unit were among the last to leave the + city, escaping in the last car to cross the bridge before it + was blown up.</p> + + <p>The work of the Scottish Women's Hospitals, organized by the + Scottish Federation of the Nation Union of Women's Suffrage + Societies, and initiated by Dr. Elsie Inglis, of Edinburgh, + would require a volume to themselves, and American women, who + have given so generously and so freely to them, know a great + deal about their work. The first unit went to Royaumont in + France, and established itself at the old Abbaye there. It + stood from the beginning in the very first rank for efficiency. + A leading French expert, Chief of the Pasteur Laboratory in + Paris, speaking of this Hospital, said he had inspected + hundreds of military Hospitals, but not one which commanded his + admiration so completely as this. Another unit was sent to + Troyes and was maintained by the students of Newnham and Girton + Colleges. Dr. Elsie Inglis's greatest work + <span class="pagenum"><a name="page62" + id="page62"></a>[pg 62]</span> began in April, 1915, when + her third unit went to Serbia, where she may he truly said + to have saved the Serbian nation from despair. The typhus + epidemic had at the time of her arrival carried off + one-third of the Serbian Army Medical Corps, and the + epidemic threatened the very existence of the Serbian Army. + She organized four great Hospital Units, initiated every + kind of needful sanitary precaution, looked into every + detail, regardless of her own safety and comfort, hesitating + at no task, however loathsome and terrible. Her constant + message to the Serbian Medical Headquarters Staff was "Tell + me where your need is greatest without respect to + difficulties, and we will do our best to help Serbia and her + brave soldiers."</p> + + <p>Two nurses and one of the doctors died of typhus. Miss + Margaret Neil Fraser, the famous golfer, was one of those who + died there, and many beds were endowed in the Second Unit in + her memory.</p> + + <p>The Third Serbian Unit when on its way out was commandeered + by Lord Methuen at Malta <span class="pagenum"><a name="page63" + id="page63"></a>[pg 63]</span> for service among our own + wounded troops, a service they were glad to render. Later + when the Germans and Austrians overran Serbia, one of the + Units retreated with the Serbian Army, but the one in which + Dr. Inglis was, remained at Kralijevo where she refused to + leave her Serbian wounded, knowing they would die without + her care. She was captured with her staff and, after + difficulties and indignities and discomforts, were released + by the Austrians and returned through Switzerland to + England. On her return she urged the War Office to send her, + and her Unit, to Mesopotamia. Rumors had already reached + England of the terrible state of things there from the + medical point of view, which was fully revealed later by the + Mesopotamian Commission. She was refused permission to go, + though it is perfectly clear their assistance would have + been invaluable and ought to have been used. Once more she + returned to help the Serbians and established Units in the + Balkans and South Russia. The Serbian people have shown + every token of gratitude and of honor + <span class="pagenum"><a name="page64" + id="page64"></a>[pg 64]</span> which it was in their power + to bestow upon her. The people in 1916 put up a fountain in + her honor at Mladenovatz, and the Serbian Crown Prince + conferred on her the highest honor Serbia has to give, the + First Order of the White Eagle. Dr. Inglis died, on November + 26th, three days after bringing her Unit safely home from + South Russia. Memorial services were held in her honor at + St. Margaret's, Westminster, and in St. Giles's Cathedral, + Edinburgh. Those who were there speak of it not as a funeral + but as a triumph. The streets were thronged; all Edinburgh + turned out to do her homage as she went to her last resting + place. The Scottish Command was represented and lent the + gun-carriage on which the coffin was borne and the Union + Jack which covered it.</p> + + <div class="figright" + style="width:30%;"> + <a href="images/plate67-1.jpg"><img width="100%" + src="images/plate67-1.jpg" + alt="'SOMEWHERE IN FRANCE'" /></a>"SOMEWHERE IN + FRANCE" + <a href="images/plate67-2.jpg"><img width="100%" + src="images/plate67-2.jpg" + alt="" /></a> + </div> + + <p>In the Cathedral the Rev. Dr. Wallace Williamson, Dean of + the Order of The Thistle, said: "We are assembled this day with + sad but proud and grateful hearts to remember before God a very + dear and noble lady, our beloved sister, Elsie Inglis, who has + been called to her rest. <span class="pagenum"><a name="page65" + id="page65"></a>[pg 65]</span> We mourn only for ourselves, + not for her. She has died as she lived, in the clear light + of faith and self-forgetfulness, and now her name is linked + forever with the great souls who have led the van of womanly + service for God and man. A wondrous union of strength and + tenderness, of courage and sweetness, she remains for us a + bright and noble memory of high devotion and stainless + honor.... Especially today, in the presence of + representatives of the land for which she died, we think of + her as an immortal link between Serbia and Scotland, and as + a symbol of that high courage which will sustain us, please + God, till that stricken land is once again restored, and + till the tragedy of war is eradicated and crowned with God's + great gifts of peace and of righteousness."</p> + + <p>The National Union of Women's Suffrage Societies also sent + the Millicent Fawcett Unit, named after its honoured President, + to Russia in 1916 to work among the Polish refugees, especially + to do maternity nursing, and work among the + children.</p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page66" + id="page66"></a>[pg 66]</span> + + <p>In February a Maternity Unit started work in Petrograd. With + an excellent staff of women doctors, nurses and orderlies, the + little hospital proved a veritable haven of helpfulness to the + distressed refugee mothers. It soon established so good a + reputation for its thorough and disinterested work that the + help of the workers was asked for by the Moscow Union of + Zemstovos (Town and Rural Councils) for Middle Russia and + Galicia.</p> + + <p>In May the Millicent Fawcett Hospital Units were sent out + and at Kazan on the Volga a badly needed Children's Hospital + for infectious diseases was opened. The only other hospital in + the place was so full that it had two patients in each bed. + They had a fierce fight against diphtheria and scarlet fever, + which in many cases was very bad, and they succeeded in saving + most of the children, who would certainly have died in their + miserable homes.</p> + + <p>In the summer, the Units took over a small hospital at Stara + Chilnoe, a district without a doctor, and they treated not only + refugees, but <span class="pagenum"><a name="page67" + id="page67"></a>[pg 67]</span> the peasants who came in + daily in crowds from the surrounding districts. Other Units + of the same kind were started in remote districts and in + summer a Holiday Home at Suida was run to which the women + and children could come from the Petrograd Maternity + Hospital for a rest. They also took charge of two hospitals, + temporarily without any medical staff, in a remote part of + the Kazan district, where they were objects of the most + intense curiosity.</p> + + <p>The interpreters were kept busy answering questions about + the ages, salaries and husbands of the staff, and the nurses' + wrist watches roused great excitement.</p> + + <p>That their gratitude and kindness was very real, though + their notions of suitability of place and time were primitive, + was shown by the gift of three live hens being dumped, at 4 + a.m., on the bed of a sister sound asleep.</p> + + <p>The final piece of work was the establishing of an + infectious Hospital for peasants and soldiers in Volhynia, + sixty miles behind the firing + <span class="pagenum"><a name="page68" + id="page68"></a>[pg 68]</span> line in Galicia. This was + done at the urgent request of the Zemstovos Union.</p> + + <p>There they had to deal with a great deal of smallpox and in + another case with scabies which they stamped out in one small + village. These Units left Russia before the recent changes, but + their work was valuable and appreciated, and again American + women helped us in raising the necessary funds, having + subscribed $7,500 towards the Units.</p> + + <p>One of the workers, Ruth Holden, of Radcliffe College, + Boston, died in one of the epidemics. We have had American + women, as we have had men, helping us from the beginning of the + war. The American Women's War Relief Fund most generously + offered to fully equip and maintain a surgical hospital of 250 + beds at Oldway House, Paignton, South Devon, at the beginning + of the war, and this offer was gratefully accepted by the War + Office through the Red Cross Society.</p> + + <p>They also gifted six motor ambulances for use at the + front—and these and the hospital have + <span class="pagenum"><a name="page69" + id="page69"></a>[pg 69]</span> been of the very greatest + service to our wounded men.</p> + + <p>Others of our medical women are with mixed Units, such as + The Wounded Allies' Relief Committee. Dr. Dickinson Berry went + out with others in a Unit from the Royal Free Hospital to help + the Serbian Government, and Dr. Alice Clark is in the Friends' + Unit.</p> + + <p>Our medical women have won rich laurels and have established + themselves in their own profession permanently and thoroughly. + Behind the Hospitals, we have the thousands of women who every + day are working at the Hospital Supply Depots of our country. + These are everywhere and nothing is more wonderful than the way + in which our voluntary workers have gone on faithfully working, + conforming to discipline and hours and steady service as + conscientiously as any paid worker.</p> + + <p>The organizing ability displayed by our women in this + amounts to genius. The buying of material, cutting and making + up, parcelling, storing, and packing of gigantic supplies, all + the <span class="pagenum"><a name="page70" + id="page70"></a>[pg 70]</span> secretarial and clerical work + involved has been the work of women and mostly of women of + the leisured classes, many of them without any previous + training. From the organization of the big schemes of supply + down to such work as the collecting of sphagnum moss, + everything that was needed has been done, and done + well.</p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page71" + id="page71"></a>[pg 71]</span> + + <h3>CHAPTER IV</h3> + + <h2>"BRINGING 'BLIGHTY' TO THE SOLDIER"</h2> + + <div class="poem"> + <div class="stanza"> + <p>"It's a long, long way to Tipperary,</p> + + <p>But my heart's right there."</p> + </div> + </div> + + <p class="author"> + "Cheero."</p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page73" + id="page73"></a>[pg 73]</span> + + <p>"Blighty" is Home, the British soldiers in India's + corruption of the Hindustanee, and Blighty is a word we all + know well now.</p> + + <p>The full records of this are not easy to give—so much + has been done. Perhaps the simplest way is to begin with the + soldier at the training camp and follow him through his + soldier's existence. The first work lies in giving him + comforts, and the women of our country still knit a good deal + and in the early days knitted, as you do now to get your + supplies, in trains and tubes and theatres and concerts, and + public meetings. This was happening while many of our working + women were without work and it was felt that this was likely to + compete very seriously with the work of these women. The Queen + realized there was likely to be hardships through this + <span class="pagenum"><a name="page74" + id="page74"></a>[pg 74]</span> and also that there would + probably be a great waste of material if voluntary effort + was not wisely guided. So she called at Buckingham Palace a + committee of women to consider the position and Queen Mary's + Needlework Guild was the outcome of it. The following + official statement, issued on August 21, 1914, intimated the + Queen's wishes and policy.</p> + + <blockquote> + <p>Queen Mary's Needlework Guild has received + representations to the effect that the provision of + garments by voluntary labor may have the consequence of + depriving of their employment workpeople who would have + been engaged for wages in the making of the same garments + for contractors to the Government. A very large part of the + garments collected by the Guild consists, however, of + articles which would not in the ordinary course have been + purchased by the Government. They include additional + comforts for the soldiers and sailors actually serving, and + for the sick and wounded in hospital, clothing for members + of their families who may fall into distress, and clothing + to be distributed by the local committees for the + prevention and relieving of distress among families who may + be suffering from unemployment owing to the war. If these + garments were not made by the voluntary labor of women who + are willing to do their share of work for the country in + the best way open to them, they would not, in the majority + <span class="pagenum"><a name="page75" + id="page75"></a>[pg 75]</span> of cases, be made at all. + The result would be that families in distress would + receive in the winter no help in the form of clothing, + and the soldiers and the sailors and the men in + hospitals would not enjoy the additional comforts that + would be provided. The Guild is informed that flannel + shirts, socks, and cardigan jackets are a Government + issue for soldiers; flannel vest, socks, and jerseys for + sailors; pajama suits, serge gowns for military + hospitals; underclothing, flannel gowns and flannel + waistcoats for naval hospitals. Her Majesty the Queen is + most anxious that work done for the Needlework Guild + should not have a harmful effect on the employment of + men, women, and girls in the trades concerned, and + therefore desires that the workers of the Guild should + devote themselves to the making of garments other than + those which would, in the ordinary course, be bought by + the War Office and Admiralty. All kinds of garments will + be needed for distribution in the winter if there is + exceptional distress.</p> + + <p>The Queen would remind those that are assisting the + Guild that garments which are bought from the shops and are + sent to the Guild are equally acceptable, and their + purchases would have the additional advantage of helping to + secure the continuance of employment of women engaged in + their manufacture. It is, however, not desirable that any + appeal for funds should be made for this purpose which + would conflict with the collection of the Prince of Wales's + Fund.</p> + </blockquote> + + <p>Branches of Queen Mary's Needlework Guild + <span class="pagenum"><a name="page76" + id="page76"></a>[pg 76]</span> were started everywhere and + the Mayoresses of practically every town in the Kingdom + organized their own towns. Gifts came from all over the + world and a book kept at Friary Court, St. James', records + the gifts received from Greater Britain and the neutral + countries.</p> + + <p>The demand for comforts was very great and in ten months the + gross number of articles received was 1,101,105, but this did + not represent anything like all. It was the Queen's wish that + the branches of her Guild should be free to do as they wished + in distribution, send to local regiments, or regiments + quartered in the neighborhood, or use them for local distress. + Great care was taken to see there was no overlapping, and this + is secured fully by Sir Edward Ward's Committee.</p> + + <p>Our men have been well looked after in the way of comforts, + socks and mitts and gloves and jerseys, and mufflers and gloves + for minesweepers and helmets, everything they needed, and the + Regimental Comforts Funds and work still exists as well, all + co-ordinated now.</p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page77" + id="page77"></a>[pg 77]</span> + + <p>The Fleet has also had fresh vegetables supplied to it the + whole time by a voluntary agency.</p> + + <p>At the Training Camps, in France, in every field of war, we + have the Y.M.C.A., and there is no soldier in these days and no + civilian who does not know the Red Triangle. There are over + 1,000 huts in Britain and over 150 in France. It is the sign + that means something to eat and something warm to drink, + somewhere cozy and warm out of the cold and chill and damp of + winter camp and trench, somewhere to write a letter, somewhere + to read and talk, somewhere that brings all of "Blighty" that + can come to the field of war. In our Y.M.C.A. huts, 30,000 + women work. In the camp towns we have also the Guest Houses, + run by voluntary organizations of women. In the Town Halls we + have teas and music and in our houses we entertain overseas + troops as our guests.</p> + + <p>Our men move in thousands to and from the front, going and + on leave, moving from one camp to another, and Victoria + Station, Charing Cross and Waterloo are names written deep in + our <span class="pagenum"><a name="page78" + id="page78"></a>[pg 78]</span> hearts these days. We have + free buffets for our fighting men at all of these, and at + all our London stations and ports, and these are open night + and day. All the money needed is found by voluntary + subscriptions.</p> + + <p>Our men come in on the leave train straight from the + trenches, loaded up with equipment, with their rifles + canvas-covered to keep them dry and clean, with Flanders mud + caked upon them to the waist, very tired, with that look they + all bring home from the trenches in their eyes, but in Blighty + and trying to forget how soon they have to go back. The buffets + are there for them, and those who have no one to meet them in + London and who have to travel north or west or east to go home, + are met by men and women who direct them where to go by day and + motor them across London to their station at night. The leave + trains that get in on Sunday morning brings Scottish soldiers + that cannot leave till evening, and St. Columba's, Church of + Scotland, has stepped into the breach. The women meet the + train, carry off the soldier for breakfast in the Hall, + <span class="pagenum"><a name="page79" + id="page79"></a>[pg 79]</span> which is ready, and they + entertain them all day. Thousands have been entertained in + this way, and "It's just home," said one Gordon + Highlander.</p> + + <p>The soldier is in France and there he finds we have sent him + Blighty, too—canteens and Y.M.C.A. Huts. Our books and + our magazines, everything we can think of and send, goes to + every field of war.</p> + + <p>He is followed where he can be by amusement and + entertainment. Concert parties are arranged by our actors and + actresses, and they go out and sing and act and amuse our men + behind the lines. Lena Ashwell has organized Concert parties + and done a great work in this way.</p> + + <p>Such work as Miss McNaughton's, recorded in her "Diary of + the War," and for which she was decorated before her death, + largely caused by overwork, as Lady Dorothie Fielding's + ambulance work, for which she also was decorated, and the work + of the "Women of Pervyse" stand out, even among the wonderful + things done by individual women in this war.</p> + + <p>The "Women of Pervyse," Mrs. Knocker, now + <span class="pagenum"><a name="page80" + id="page80"></a>[pg 80]</span> the Baronnes de T'Serclas, + and Miss Mairi Chisholm, went out with the Field Ambulance + Committee, and were quartered with others at Ghent before + and during and after the siege of Antwerp. When the + ambulance trains started to come in from Antwerp they worked + day and night moving the wounded from the station to the + hospitals—they worked for hours under fire moving + wounded, unperturbed and unshaken.</p> + + <p>After the battle of Dixmude and the armies had settled on + the Neuport-Ypres line, Mrs. Knocker started the Pervyse Poste + de Secours Anglis, a dressing station so close to the firing + line that the wounded could literally be lifted to it from the + trenches.</p> + + <p>There they have worked and cared for the men in conditions + almost incredible. In February, 1915, they were decorated by + King Albert, and since March they have been permanently + attached to the Third Division of the Belgian Army.</p> + + <p>In June, 1915, they were mentioned in dispatches for saving + life under heavy fire. They + <span class="pagenum"><a name="page81" + id="page81"></a>[pg 81]</span> have saved hundreds of lives + by being where they can render aid so swiftly, and the + military authorities do not move them, not only because they + wish to pay tribute to their valor but because they are so + valuable.</p> + + <p>Most of all, "Blighty" goes to the soldier in his letters + and there is nothing so dear to the soldier as his letters, and + nothing is worse than to have "no mail." The woman who does not + write, and the woman who writes the wrong things, are equally + poor things. The woman who wants to help her man sends him + bright cheerful letters, not letters about difficulties he + can't help, and that will only worry him, but letters with all + the news he would like to have, and the messages that count for + so much. Every woman who writes to a soldier has in that an + influence and a power worthy of all her best. Not only our + letters but our thoughts and our prayers are a wall of strength + to, and behind our men.</p> + + <p>In this war some have talked of spiritual manifestations + that saved disaster in our great retreat. In that people may + believe or disbelieve, <span class="pagenum"><a name="page82" + id="page82"></a>[pg 82]</span> but no person of intelligence + fails to realize the power of thought, and love, and hope, + and the spirit of women can be a great power to their men in + arms. There are so many ways of giving and sending that none + of us need to fail.</p> + + <p>Then he is in it—in the trenches—over the + top—and he may be safe or he may be wounded—a + "Blighty one," as our men say, and we get him home to nurse and + care for—or he may make the supreme sacrifice and only + the message goes home.</p> + + <p>To everyone it must go with something of the consolation of + the poem written by Rifleman S. Donald Cox of the London Rifle + Brigade.</p> + + <div class="poem"> + <div class="stanza"> + <p>"To My Mother—1916</p> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <p>"If I should fall, grieve not that one so weak</p> + + <p class="i4">And poor as I</p> + + <p class="i4">Should die.</p> + + <p>Nay, though thy heart should break,</p> + + <p>Think only this: that when at dusk they speak</p> + + <p class="i4">Of sons and brothers of another one,</p> + + <p class="i4">Then thou canst say, 'I, too, had a + son,</p> + + <p>He died for England's sake,'"</p> + </div> + </div><span class="pagenum"><a name="page83" + id="page83"></a>[pg 83]</span> + + <p>He may be a prisoner and then we follow him again. There are + over 40,000 of our men prisoners and we have over 200,000 of + the enemy. The treatment and conditions of our prisoners in + Germany were sometimes terrible—the horrors of Wittenberg + we can never forget, and we are deeply indebted to the American + Red Cross, for all it did before America's entry into the war, + for our prisoners.</p> + + <p>From the beginning of the war we have had to feed our + prisoners, and for the first two years parcels of food went + from mothers, sisters and relatives of the men. Regimental + Funds were raised and parcels sent through these. Girls' Clubs + and the League of Honour and Churches and groups of many kinds + sent also. The Savoy Association had a large fund and did a + great work.</p> + + <p>Parcels, which must weigh under eleven pounds, go free to + prisoners of war and there are + <span class="pagenum"><a name="page84" + id="page84"></a>[pg 84]</span> some regulations about what + may be sent. Now the whole work is regulated by the + Prisoners of War Help Committee—an official committee, + and parcels are sent out under their supervision to every + man in captivity.</p> + + <p>Books, games and clothing also go out from us. In most of + the Camps and at Ruhleben, where our civilians are interned, + studies are carried on, and classes of instruction, and + technical and educative books are much needed and demanded. + Schools and colleges have sent out large supplies of these.</p> + + <p>We have also raised funds for the Belgian Prisoners of War + in Germany.</p> + + <p>We have exchanged prisoners with Germany and have secured + the release and internment in Switzerland of some hundreds of + our worst wounded, and permanently disabled, and tubercular and + consumptive men. In Switzerland, among the beautiful mountains, + they are finding happiness and health again and many of them + are working at new trades and training.</p> + + <p>We sent out their wives to see them and some + <span class="pagenum"><a name="page85" + id="page85"></a>[pg 85]</span> girls went to marry their + released men. Some of our prisoners have escaped from + Germany and reached us safely after many risks and + adventures.</p> + + <p>"Blighty" goes out to our men also in our Chaplains, the + "Padres" of our forces, and many times soldiers have talked to + me of their splendid "Padre" in Gallipoli, or France or Egypt. + They have died with the men, bringing water and help and trying + to bring in the wounded. They have been decorated with the + V.C., our highest honor, the simple bronze cross given "For + Valour." They write home to mothers and wives and relatives of + the men who fall, and send last messages and words of + consolation.</p> + + <p>Their task is a great one, for to men who face death all the + time, and see their dearest friends killed beside them, things + eternal are living realities and there are questions for which + they want answers. There is so much the Padre has to give and + his messages are listened to in a new way and words are winged + and living where these men + are.</p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page86" + id="page86"></a>[pg 86]</span> + + <p>We have so many of our men from overseas among us who are + far from their own homes, and in London we have Clubs for the + Canadians, the Australians, the New Zealanders, for the two + together, immortally to be known as the "Anzacs," and for the + South Africans, where they can all find a bit of home. We have + also just opened American Huts and the beautiful officers' Club + at Lord Leconfield's house, lent for the purpose.</p> + + <p>For the permanently disabled soldier we are doing a great + deal. St. Dunstan's, the wonderful training school for the + blind, has been the very special work of Sir Arthur Pearson, + who is himself blind, and Lady Pearson.</p> + + <p>The Lord Roberts Workshops for the disabled are doing + splendid work in training and bringing hope to seriously + crippled men.</p> + + <p>The British Women's Hospital for which our women have raised + $500,000, is on the site of the old Star and Garter Hotel at + Richmond, and is to be for permanently disabled + men.</p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page87" + id="page87"></a>[pg 87]</span> + + <p>There, overlooking our beautiful river, men who have been + broken in the wars for us, may find a permanent home in this + monument of our women's love and + gratitude.</p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page89" + id="page89"></a>[pg 89]</span> + + <h3>CHAPTER V</h3> + + <h2>WOMAN-POWER FOR MAN-POWER</h2> + + <div class="poem"> + <div class="stanza"> + <p>"She seeketh wool, and flax, and worketh willingly + with her hands.</p> + + <p>She is like the merchant's ships; she bringeth her + food from afar.</p> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <hr /> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <p>"She girdeth her loins with strength, and + strengtheneth her arms.</p> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <hr /> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <p>"Strength and honour are her clothing; and she shall + rejoice in time to come."</p> + </div> + </div> + + <p class="author">—PROV., Chap. + 31.</p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page91" + id="page91"></a>[pg 91]</span> + + <p>The first result of the outbreak of war for women was to + throw thousands of them out of work.</p> + + <p>Nobody knew—not even the ablest financial and + commercial men—just what a great European war was going + to mean, and luxury trades ceased to get orders; women + journalists, women writers, women lecturers, and women workers + of every type were thrown out of work and unemployment was very + great.</p> + + <p>A National Relief Fund was started for general distress and + the Queen dealt in the ablest manner with the women's problem. + She issued this appeal: "In the firm belief that prevention of + distress is better than its relief, and employment is better + than charity, I have inaugurated the 'Queen's Work for Women + Fund,' Its object is to provide employment for as many as + possible of the women of this country who have been + <span class="pagenum"><a name="page92" + id="page92"></a>[pg 92]</span> thrown out of work by the + war. I appeal to the women of Great Britain to help their + less fortunate sisters through the fund.</p> + + <p>"MARY R."</p> + + <p>This appeal was instantly responded to and large sums were + subscribed. A very representative Committee of Women was + established, with Miss Mary MacArthur, the well known Trade + Union leader, as Hon. Secretary and the Queen was in daily + touch with its work.</p> + + <p>In the dislocation of industry which had caused the + committee's formation, it was found that there was great + slackness in one trade or a part of it and great pressure in + other parts of it or other trades. The problem was to use the + unemployed firms and workers for the new national needs.</p> + + <p>The committee considered it part of their work to endeavor + to increase the number of firms getting Government contracts, + and they created a special Contracts Department, under the + direction of Mr. J.J. Mallon, of the Anti-sweating League. + They, as a result, advised in regard to + <span class="pagenum"><a name="page93" + id="page93"></a>[pg 93]</span> the placing of contracts and + they undertook to get articles for the Government, or + ordered by other sources, manufactured by firms adversely + affected by the war or in their own workrooms. They worked + with the firms accustomed to making men's clothing and now + unemployed, and found that they could easily take military + contracts if certain technical difficulties were removed. + They interviewed the War Office authorities, modifications + were suggested and approved and the full employment in the + tailoring trade which followed gave a greatly improved + supply of army clothing. Contracts were secured from the war + office for khaki cloth, blankets, and various kinds of + hosiery, and these were carried out by manufacturers who + otherwise would have had to close down.</p> + + <p>The Queen gave orders for her own gifts to the troops, and + considerable work was done through trade workshops, care being + taken to see that this work was only done where ordinary trade + was fully employed. Two contracts from the War Office, typical + of others, were for 20,000 + <span class="pagenum"><a name="page94" + id="page94"></a>[pg 94]</span> shirts and for 2,000,000 + pairs of army socks. Over 130 firms received contracts + through the committee.</p> + + <p>New openings for trades were tested and the possibility of + the transference of work formerly done in Germany.</p> + + <p>In its Relief Work the committee had its greatest problems. + It was clear that if rates paid were high, women would come in + from badly paid trades, and it was clear that if they sold the + work, it would injure trade—so in the end it was decided + to pay a low wage, 11/6 a week—and to give away, through + the right agencies, the garments and things made in the + workrooms.</p> + + <p>The inefficiency of many workers was very clear and training + schemes resulted—for typing, shorthand, in leather work, + chair seat willowing, in cookery, dressmaking and + dress-cutting, home nursing, etc.</p> + + <p>Professional women were helped through various funds and + workrooms were established by other organizations, several + being started in London by the + N.U.W.S.S.</p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page95" + id="page95"></a>[pg 95]</span> + + <div class="figright" + style="width:30%;"> + <a href="images/plate98-1.jpg"><img width="100%" + src="images/plate98-1.jpg" + alt="CLEANING A LOCOMOTIVE" /></a> + WOMEN AS CARRIAGE CLEANERS + </div> + + <div class="figright" + style="width:30%;"> + <a href="images/plate98-2.jpg"><img width="100%" + src="images/plate98-2.jpg" + alt="CLEANING A LOCOMOTIVE" /></a> + CLEANING A LOCOMOTIVE + </div> + + <p>As the months went on women began to be absorbed more and + more into industry. Men were going into the army ceaselessly, + our war needs were growing greater and our women found work + opening out more and more. The Women's Service Bureau had been + opened within a week of the outbreak of war and had done + valuable work in placing women, before the Board of Trade + issued its first official appeal to women, additional to those + already in industry, to volunteer for War Service. It was sent + out by Mr. Runciman, President of the Board of Trade, and read + as follows:</p> + + <blockquote> + <p>The President of the Board of Trade wishes to call + attention to the fact that in the present emergency, if the + full fighting power of the nation is to be put forth on the + field of battle, the full working power of the nation must + be made available to carry on its essential trades at home. + Already, in certain important occupations there are not + enough men and women to do the work. + <span class="pagenum"><a name="page96" + id="page96"></a>[pg 96]</span> This shortage will + certainly spread to other occupations as more and more + men join the fighting forces.</p> + + <p>In order to meet both the present and the future needs + of national industry during the war, the Government wish to + obtain particulars of the women available, with or without + previous training, for paid employment. Accordingly, they + invite all women who are prepared, if needed, to take paid + employment of any kind—industrial, agricultural, + clerical, etc.—to enter themselves upon the Register + of Women for War Service which is being prepared by the + Board of Trade Labour Exchanges.</p> + + <p>Any woman living in a town where there is a Labour + Exchange can register by going there in person. If she is + not near a Labour Exchange she can get a form of + registration from the local agency of the Unemployment + Fund. Forms will also be sent out through a number of + women's societies.</p> + + <p>The object of registration is to find out + <span class="pagenum"><a name="page97" + id="page97"></a>[pg 97]</span> what reserve force of + women's labour, trained or untrained, can be made + available if required. As from time to time actual + openings for employment present themselves, notice will + be given through the Labor Exchanges, with full details + as to the nature of work, conditions, and pay, and, so + far as special training is necessary, arrangements will, + if possible, be made for the purpose.</p> + + <p>Any woman who by working helps to release a man or to + equip a man for fighting does national war service. Every + woman should register who is able and willing to take + employment.</p> + </blockquote> + + <p>The forms were sent out in large numbers through the women's + societies of the country, and it was stated on them that women + were wanted at once for farm-work, dairy work, brush-making, + leather stitching, clothing, machinery and machining for + armaments.</p> + + <p>By next day the registrations were 4,000, mostly + middle-class women, and in the first week + <span class="pagenum"><a name="page98" + id="page98"></a>[pg 98]</span> 20,000 registered and an + average of 5,000 a week after, but the mass of women who + registered waited with no real lead or use of them for a + long time. The Government seemed to suffer from a delusion a + great many people have, that if you have enough machinery + and masses of names something is being done, but you do not + solve any problem by registers. You solve it by getting the + workers and the work together.</p> + + <p>The Government had not approached employers at first, but + had left it to them entirely to take the initiative in this + great replacement. This they had to a considerable extent done, + using the Labour Exchanges and the other agencies and women + were more and more quickly, steadily, ceaselessly replacing + men.</p> + + <p>The appeals for women for munition work were most swiftly + responded to and educated women volunteered in thousands, as + did working girls and women.</p> + + <p>The question of assisting employment by fitting more women + for commercial and industrial occupations was considered by the + Government, <span class="pagenum"><a name="page99" + id="page99"></a>[pg 99]</span> and in October, 1915, the + Clerical and Commercial Occupations Committee was appointed + by the Home Office—a similar committee being set up + for Scotland. It arranged with the London County Council and + with local authorities that their Education Committees + should initiate emergency courses all over the country for + training in general clerical work, bookkeeping and office + routine. The courses lasted from three to ten weeks, and the + age of the students varied from eighteen to thirty-five.</p> + + <p>Many free courses were inaugurated by business firms in + large London stores, notably Harrods and Whiteleys, where their + courses included all office and business training. Six week + courses of free training for the grocery trade, for the boot + trade, lens making, waiting, hairdressing, etc., were also + given.</p> + + <p>Our woman labor has been found to be quite mobile and girls + have moved in thousands from one part of the country to + another, and the munition girl travelling home on holiday on + her special permit is a familiar + figure.</p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page100" + id="page100"></a>[pg 100]</span> + + <p>The registration, placing and moving of our workers is all + done by our Labour Exchanges, now renamed Employment Exchanges + and transferred from the Board of Trade to the Ministry of + Labour.</p> + + <p>When the National Service Department was set up, a Women's + Branch was established with Mrs. H.J. Tennant, and Miss Violet + Markham as Co-directors, and they made various appeals, + registered women for the land, munitions, W.A.A.C. and for wood + cutting and pitprop making. A great demonstration of "Women's + Service" was held in the Albert Hall in January 17, 1917, at + which Mrs. Tennant and Miss Markham, Lord Derby, Minister of + War; Mr. Prothero, President of the Board of Agriculture, and + Mr. John Hodge, Minister of Labour, spoke and at which the + Queen was present. It was an appeal to women for more work and + a registration of their determination to go on doing all that + was needed. The men's message was one to equals—they + asked great things. A message from Queen Mary was read for the + first time at any public + <span class="pagenum"><a name="page101" + id="page101"></a>[pg 101]</span> meeting and it was the only + occasion on which she has attended one.</p> + + <p>The number of women now in our industry directly replacing + men, according to our latest returns, is over one and a quarter + millions. This does not include domestic service, where our + maids grow less and less numerous and Sir Auckland Geddes, + Director of National Service, tells us he is considering + cutting down servants in any establishment to not more than + three, and it does not include very small shops and firms.</p> + + <p>The processes in industry in which women work are numbered + in hundreds. The War Office in 1916 issued an official + memorandum for the use of Military Representatives and + Tribunals setting forth the processes in which women worked and + the trades and occupations, and giving photographs of women + doing unaccustomed and heavy work, to guide the Tribunals in + deciding exemptions of men called up for Military Service.</p> + + <p>In professional work today women are everywhere. There are + 198,000 women in Government + <span class="pagenum"><a name="page102" + id="page102"></a>[pg 102]</span> Departments, 83,000 of + these new since the war. They are doing typing, shorthand, + and secretarial work, organizing and executive work. They + are in the Censor's office in large numbers and doing + important work at the Census of Production. There are + 146,000 on Local Government work. The woman teacher has + invaded that stronghold of man in England, the Boys' High + and Grammar Schools, and is doing good work there. They are + replacing men chemists in works, doing research, working at + dental mechanics, are tracing plans. They are driving motor + cars in large numbers. Our Prime Minister has a woman + chauffeur. They are driving delivery vans and bringing us + our goods, our bread and our milk. They carry a great part + of our mail and trudge through villages and cities with it. + They drive our mail vans, and I know two daughters of a peer + who drive mail vans in London. I know other women who never + did any work in their lives who for three years have worked + in factories, taking the same work, the same holidays, the + same pay as the other girls. + <span class="pagenum"><a name="page103" + id="page103"></a>[pg 103]</span> Women are gardeners, + elevator attendants, commissionaires and conductors on our + buses and trams, and in provincial towns drive many of the + electric trams.</p> + + <div class="figright" + style="width:30%;"> + <a href="images/plate107-1.jpg"><img width="100%" + src="images/plate107-1.jpg" + alt="WINDOW CLEANERS" /></a>WINDOW CLEANERS + </div> + + <div class="figright" + style="width:30%;"> + <a href="images/plate107-2.jpg"><img width="100%" + src="images/plate107-2.jpg" + alt="STEAM ROLLER DRIVER" /></a>STEAM ROLLER DRIVER + </div> + + <p>In the railways they are booking clerks, carriage and engine + cleaners and greasers, and carriage repairers, cooks and + waiters in dining cars, platform, parcel and goods porters, + telegraphists and ticket collectors and inspectors, and + labourers and wagon sheet repairers. They work in quarries, are + coal workers, clean ships, are park-keepers and cinema + operators. They are commercial travellers in large numbers. + They are in banks to a great extent and are now taking banking + examinations.</p> + + <p>There was a very strong feeling as the replacement by women + went on that there must be no lowering of wage standards which + would not only be grossly unfair to women but imperil the + returning soldier's chance of getting his post back.</p> + + <p>Mrs. Fawcett, on behalf of the Women's Interests Committee + of the N.U.W.S.S., called + <span class="pagenum"><a name="page104" + id="page104"></a>[pg 104]</span> a conference on the + question of War Service and wages in 1915, and Mr. Runciman + stated at the conference:</p> + + <blockquote> + <p>As regards the wages and conditions on which women + should be employed, as a general principle the Exchanges + did not, and could not, take direct responsibility as to + the wages and conditions, beyond giving in each case such + information as was in their possession. In regard, however, + to Government contractors, it had been laid down that the + piece rates for women should be the same as for men, and + further special instructions had been given to the + Exchanges to inform inexperienced applicants of the current + wages in each case, so that they should be fully apprised + as to the wage which it was reasonable for them to ask. A + general safeguard against permanent lowering of wages by + the admission of women to take the place of men on service + would be made by asking employers, so far + <span class="pagenum"><a name="page105" + id="page105"></a>[pg 105]</span> as possible, to keep + the men's places open for them on their return.</p> + </blockquote> + + <p>Wages in most cases are at the same rate as men, and as + women are organized in Britain in large numbers, the Trades + Unions and Women's Committees are always alive and ready to act + on the question of payment and conditions. Our workers, men and + women, are very well paid and despite high prices, were never + more comfortable, and never saved more. The call for women to + replace men still goes on in Britain. Miners are going to be + combed out again. The Trade Unions have been again approached + by the Premier and Sir Auckland Geddes on this question of man + power. The Battalions must be filled up—in France we need + 2,000,000 men all the time and of these 1,670,000 are from our + own Islands.</p> + + <p>It is calculated there are in Britain today—Ireland is + not tapped in woman power any more than in man power—less + than a million women who could do more important work for the + war <span class="pagenum"><a name="page106" + id="page106"></a>[pg 106]</span> than they are now doing. + Most of these are already doing work of one kind or another, + but could probably do more.</p> + + <p>Our homes, our industries, munitions, the land, hospitals, + Government service and the Waac's are absorbing us in our + millions. Britain could not have raised her Army and Navy and + could not now keep her men in the field without the + mobilization of her women and their ceaseless, tireless work + behind her men, and as substitutes for them, in the working + life of the + community.</p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page107" + id="page107"></a>[pg 107]</span> + + <h3>CHAPTER VI</h3> + + <h2>WOMEN IN MUNITIONS</h2> + + <div class="poem"> + <div class="stanza"> + <p>"For all we have and are,</p> + + <p class="i2">For all our children's fate—</p> + + <p>Rise up and meet the war,</p> + + <p class="i2">The Hun is at the gate.</p> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <hr class="short" /> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <p>"Comfort, content, delight,</p> + + <p class="i2">The ages' slow-bought gain,</p> + + <p>Have shrivelled in a night,</p> + + <p class="i2">Only ourselves remain.</p> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <hr class="short" /> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <p>"Though all we knew depart,</p> + + <p class="i2">The old commandments stand,</p> + + <p>In courage keep your heart,</p> + + <p class="i2">In strength lift up your hand."</p> + </div> + </div> + + <p class="author">—RUDYARD + KIPLING.</p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page109" + id="page109"></a>[pg 109]</span> + + <blockquote> + <p>"Hats off to the Women of Britain!"—Sir ARTHUR + CONAN DOYLE in <i>The Times</i>, November 28, 1916.</p> + </blockquote> + + <p>When war broke out the Government had three National + workshops producing munitions—today it has 100, and it + controls over 5,000 establishments through the Ministry of + Munitions, many of which are continually growing in size.</p> + + <p>The total output has increased over thirty-fold but in many + cases increase in production has been far greater. In guns, the + production of 4.5 field howitzers is over fifty times as large; + of machine guns and howitzers over seventy times and of heavy + howitzers (over 6 inch) over 420 times as large.</p> + + <p>More small shell is now made in a fortnight than formerly in + a year, and the increase in output of heavy shell has been + still larger. Equally striking results have been attained in + <span class="pagenum"><a name="page110" + id="page110"></a>[pg 110]</span> the production of machine + guns, aeroplanes motor bodies, and the other war supplies, + for which demand and replacement have necessarily grown with + the demand for guns and shells. To these have to be added + the ships and the anti-submarine and anti-aircraft machines + and devices that have been demanded by the enemy's method of + warfare.</p> + + <p>This work has only been possible in a country that has + raised five million men, 75 per cent from our own islands, + because of what women have done.</p> + + <p>Today there are between 800,000 and 1,000,000 women in + munitions works in our country, and the history of their entry + and work is a wonderful one. Women themselves were quicker than + the Government to realize how much they would be needed in + munitions, and started to train before openings were ready.</p> + + <p>Women realized vividly what Lloyd George's speech of June, + 1915, made clear, the urgent, terrible need of our men for more + munitions—the Germans could send over ten shells to our + <span class="pagenum"><a name="page111" + id="page111"></a>[pg 111]</span> one—and women + volunteered in thousands for munition work.</p> + + <p>The London Society for Women's Suffrage, which was running + "Women's Service," had women volunteers for munitions in + enormous numbers and tried to secure openings for them. It + investigated and found that acetylene welders were badly + needed. There were very few in Britain, and welding is + essential for aircraft and other work, so they started to find + out if there were classes for training women, and found none in + Technical Schools were open to women. They found welders were + needed very much in certain aircraft factories in the + neighborhood of London and the manager of one assured them that + if women were trained satisfactorily for oxy-acetylene welding, + he would give them a trial. So "Women's Service" decided to + open a small workshop and secured Miss E.C. Woodward, a metal + worker of long standing, as instructor. The school was started + in a small way with six pupils. Oxy-acetylene welding is the + most <span class="pagenum"><a name="page112" + id="page112"></a>[pg 112]</span> effective way of securing a + perfect weld without any deleterious effect upon the + metal.</p> + + <p>The great heat needed for the purpose of uniting two or more + pieces of metal so as to make of them an autogenous whole is + obtained, in this process, by the burning of acetylene gas in + conjunction with oxygen.</p> + + <p>Carbide, looking like little lumps of granite, is placed in + a tray at the bottom of the generator for acetylene gas, which + is of the form of a small portable gasometer. The tap, + admitting water to the carbide trays, is turned on, and gas at + once generates, and forces up the generator in the way so + familiar to those who often see a gasometer. This gas passes + through a tube to the blow-pipe of the welder, or to any other + use for which it is destined.</p> + + <div class="figright" + style="width:30%;"> + <a href="images/plate118.jpg"><img width="100%" + src="images/plate118.jpg" + alt="TRAINING WOMEN AS AEROPLANE BUILDERS" /> + </a>TRAINING WOMEN AS AEROPLANE BUILDERS + </div> + + <p>In oxy-acetylene welding, the process employs the flame + produced by the combustion in a suitable blow-pipe of oxygen + and acetylene. When a light is applied to the nozzle of the + pipe a yellow flame, a foot long, flares up, and in the centre + of it, close to the nozzle, appears a very small, + <span class="pagenum"><a name="page113" + id="page113"></a>[pg 113]</span> dazzling, bluish flame, + which can only safely be gazed upon by eyes protected by + coloured glasses. The temperature of this flame at the apex + is about 6,300 degrees Fahr., and it is with this that the + metals to be welded together are brought to a suitable + degree of heat.</p> + + <p>The workers' eyes are protected by black goggles, their hair + confined by caps or handkerchiefs, and overalls or + leather-aprons protect their clothes from the sparks and also + from the smuts which naturally accrue on surrounding objects. + Each welder holds in her right hand the blow-pipe of the craft, + from which depends two long flexible tubes, one conducting + oxygen from the tall cylinder in the corner, and the other + acetylene from the generator. In her left hand she holds the + welding-stick of soft Swedish iron, from which tiny molten + drops fall upon the glowing edges of the metal to be welded + together. The work is fascinating even to the onlooker, and to + see the result, metal so welded you feel it is impossible it + ever could have been two pieces, is still more + fascinating.</p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page114" + id="page114"></a>[pg 114]</span> + + <p>The first welders triumphantly passed their tests and gave + every satisfaction in the factory, and the training went on and + the School was enlarged.</p> + + <p>The oxy-acetylene welders turned out by this School have + gone all over the country and 220 were trained and placed in + the first year. Those selected were, with few exceptions, + educated women, which was undoubtedly a material factor in the + success of their work. This School opened training to women and + welding is now taught to women in many of our Technical + Schools. A class in Elementary Engineering has also been + carried on by Women's Service with great success and the women + placed in workshops.</p> + + <p>The Ministry of Munitions has also arranged, in conjunction + with the London County Council and other Educational + Authorities, to have free munition training for women at every + centre in the Kingdom. The courses vary from six to nine weeks + and maintenance grants are paid during the period of + training.</p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page115" + id="page115"></a>[pg 115]</span> + + <p>In October, 1915, the Central Labour Supply Committee which + dealt with women's and men's conditions, issued certain + recommendations in Circular L.2. These dealt with the + conditions and rates of pay of women and fully skilled and + unskilled men. The provision of this much-discussed circular + that affected women doing skilled work was in Clause 1, which + provides that "Women employed on work customarily done by fully + skilled tradesmen shall be paid the time rates of the tradesman + whose work they undertake."</p> + + <p>These provisions were then only binding on the Government + establishments, and could not be enforced by the Ministry of + Munitions in controlled establishments. On December 31, 1915, a + conference was held between the Prime Minister, the Minister of + Munitions and representatives of the Amalgamated Society of + Engineers, when an agreement in regard to "dilution" was + arranged. Circular L. 2 was adopted at this conference as the + basis of the undertaking given by the Ministry in regard to + dilution of labor. <span class="pagenum"><a name="page116" + id="page116"></a>[pg 116]</span> An employer under it can be + punished as contravening the Munitions Act if he fails to + carry out the direction of the Minister. The power of + enforcing the provisions of L. 2 were acquired in January, + 1916, and it is quite obvious that in this circular a + principle of the greatest importance to men and women is + laid down. Women were wholly averse to being "blacklegs" in + industry.</p> + + <p>The great work of "Dilution" in Munitions—and by + dilution we mean the use in industry of unskilled, semi-skilled + and woman labor, so that highly skilled men may not be used + except for the most important work—is done by the + Dilution Department of the Ministry of Munitions, which issues + Dilution of Labour Bulletins and Process Sheets periodically, + showing the work women are doing. A series of exhibitions of + women's work have also been arranged by the Technical Section + of the Labour Supply Department in all the big towns in + England. In Sheffield over 16,000 people came to see the + <span class="pagenum"><a name="page117" + id="page117"></a>[pg 117]</span> Exhibition—the + largest number of these being foremen and workmen sent by + their firms.</p> + + <div class="figright" + style="width:30%;"> + <a href="images/plate123-1.jpg"><img width="100%" + src="images/plate123-1.jpg" + alt="RIVETTING ON BOILERS" /></a>RIVETTING ON BOILERS + </div> + + <div class="figright" + style="width:30%;"> + <a href="images/plate123-2.jpg"><img width="100%" + src="images/plate123-2.jpg" + alt="FACING BOILER BLUE FLANGES" /></a>FACING BOILER + BLUE FLANGES + </div> + + <p>The Exhibitions consist of two main sections, one of which + shows actual samples of munitions made by women, and the other + of photographs of women doing work on apparatus or processes + that could not be shown. A complete Clerget engine, for + instance, was lent by the Air Board to illustrate the final + assembly of the numerous parts of these engines being made + wholly or partly by women. In the same way, many parts of + complete Stokes Guns, Vickers Machine Guns and Service Rifles + were exhibited. The exhibits were divided into fifteen groups. + The first group dealing with engines for aircraft. The second + group showed engines for motor cars, tanks, tractors, motor + buses, motor lorries and motor vehicles.</p> + + <p>A separate group consisted of a variety of accessories for + internal combustion engines, including air pump for the Clerget + engine, which is completely manufactured and assembled by + women, largely under women supervision; and + <span class="pagenum"><a name="page118" + id="page118"></a>[pg 118]</span> magnetos, a very important + and accurate industry, before the war largely in German + hands, of which women now undertake the entire + manufacture.</p> + + <p>The fourth group dealt with steam engines, including details + of locomotives, high speed engines, steam winches, and steam + turbines.</p> + + <p>The next two groups dealt respectively with guns and + components and with small arms.</p> + + <p>The next three groups included gauges, drills, cutters, + punches and dies, trucks, jigs, tap pieces and general + tool-room work. The gauges included plug, ring, cylinder and + screw gauges to the closest degrees of accuracy, which in + practice are verified by the rigid inspection of the National + Physical Laboratory.</p> + + <p>A fair illustration of the accuracy that is habitually + required in a large volume of work is to be seen in the final + gauging and inspection of a screw gauge for a fuse, in which + the women inspectors were described in the catalogue as + examining these screws by an optical projection apparatus, + magnifying fifty times, with the help + <span class="pagenum"><a name="page119" + id="page119"></a>[pg 119]</span> of which the inspector + notes the defects in size and form, and the necessary + corrections.</p> + + <p>The cutting tools included sets of cutters for the + manufacture of shells, as well as twist drills, reamers, + milling cutters, gear cutters, screwing dies, taps and lathe + tools. Some of this work is of high accuracy, and a set of + solid screwing dies has the particular interest that almost all + the operations are carried out by women after they have been in + the shop for a fortnight. The general tool-room work included + an exhibit of seventy-one punches and dies for cartridge + making. Another set of dies was shown for small-arms + ammunition, and specimens were also exhibited of chucks, + die-heads and other work.</p> + + <p>Two other groups dealt with the metal fittings and wooden + structural parts of aircraft, and to see girls work on these is + intensely interesting—anything more fragile looking and + more beautiful than the long uncovered wing it would be + difficult to find. A notable feature of the metal group was a + number of parts that are marked off from drawings by women + working under a woman charge-hand, + <span class="pagenum"><a name="page120" + id="page120"></a>[pg 120]</span> and themselves making their + own scribing-templates when necessary. Many examples of + welding work were also shown.</p> + + <p>There were Optical Munitions and medical and surgical glass + and X-ray tubes made entirely by women, and the Exhibitions + record the progress of women in Munitions in the most wonderful + and striking way.</p> + + <p>Mr. Ben. H. Morgan, Chief Officer, in a recent speech on + Munitions and Production said:</p> + + <blockquote> + <p>"Labor had to be found to staff the thousands of + factories in which this stupendous production was to be + carried out, and it has been possible to find it only by + subdividing work closely, and entrusting a large variety of + machinery and fitting to women, with the help of the + fullest possible equipment of jigs and all available + appliances for mechanically defining and facilitating the + work, and of instruction by skilled men. By this means an + output has been obtained that will compare favorably with + that of any class of + <span class="pagenum"><a name="page121" + id="page121"></a>[pg 121]</span> workers in any country. + Comparing, for instance, our women's figures of output + on certain sizes of shell and types of fuses with those + of men in the United States, I found recently that the + women's machining times were not only as good but in + many cases better than those of men in some of the best + organized American shops.</p> + + <p>"This is an extraordinary result to have been obtained + from women who, for the most part, had never known either + the work or the discipline of factory life, and were wholly + unused to mechanical operations. More than one circumstance + has doubtless contributed to making it possible; but it is + my assured conviction that foremost among the incentives by + which women have been helped has been their constant + thought of their flesh and blood, their husbands, brothers, + sons, sweethearts, in the trenches. I know a typical + example in a Yorkshire mother, who early in the war sent + her only son to the fighting line. The lad was a skilled + <span class="pagenum"><a name="page122" + id="page122"></a>[pg 122]</span> mechanic, and she took + his place at his lathe in the Leeds shops where he + worked. She is not only keeping this job going, but her + output on the job she is doing is a record for the whole + country."</p> + </blockquote> + + <p>The women workers' productions has been admirable and is + steady and continues so. The <i>Manchester Guardian</i> of + November 15, 1915, astounded women and men alike by its + announcement that "figures were produced in proof of the very + startling assertion that the output of the women munition + workers is slightly more than double that of men."</p> + + <p>In the latest Dilution of Labour Bulletin this is + recorded:</p> + + <center> + "A GOOD BEGINNING + </center> + + <blockquote> + <p>"A firm in the London and South Eastern district making + propellers for aeroplanes has recently begun the employment + of women, and the results are exceeding all expectations. + As an instance it is reported + <span class="pagenum"><a name="page123" + id="page123"></a>[pg 123]</span> that five women are now + doing the work of scraping, formerly done by six men, + with an increase of 70 per cent in output."</p> + </blockquote> + + <p>The way in which managers, foremen and skilled men have + trained and helped the women and work with them cannot be too + highly praised—the success of "dilution"—the + ability of women to help their country in this way, was only + possible through the good will and co-operation of our great + Trade Unions and skilled men.</p> + + <p>Women supervisors and examiners are trained at Woolwich, and + the first of these were found by "Women's Service," and we find + women control and manage large numbers of women in the big + works extremely well. One girl of twenty-three, the daughter of + a famous engineer, is controlling the work of 6,000 women who + are working on submarines, guns, aircraft, and all manner of + munitions.</p> + + <p>One great engineer who believes in women and women's future + in engineering has started what we might term an engineering + college for women.</p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page124" + id="page124"></a>[pg 124]</span> + + <p>He has built a model factory away in the hills "somewhere in + Scotland" with four tiers of ferro-cement floors. It is built + with the idea of taking 300 women students and eight months + after it opened, it had sixty women students. It is a factory + entirely for women, run by, and to a large extent managed by + women, with the exception of two men instructors. In the ground + floor the girls are working at parts of high power aeroplane + engines, under their works superintendent, a woman who took her + Mathematical Tripos at Newnham College, and was lecturer at one + of our girls' public schools. The women rank as engineer + apprentices and their hours are forty-four a week. The first + six months are probationary with pay at 20/- ($5) a week, and + the students are doing extremely well.</p> + + <p>"Women are now part and parcel of our great army," said the + Earl of Derby, on July 13, 1916, "without them it would be + impossible for progress to be made, but with them I believe + victory can be assured."</p> + + <div class="figright" + style="width:30%;"> + <a href="images/plate132.jpg"><img width="100%" + src="images/plate132.jpg" + alt="ROUGH TURNING JACKET FORGING OF 6-POUNDER, HOTCHKISS GUN" /> + </a>ROUGH TURNING JACKET FORGING OF 6-POUNDER, HOTCHKISS + GUN + </div> + + <p>Mr. Asquith, too, has paid his tribute to the + <span class="pagenum"><a name="page125" + id="page125"></a>[pg 125]</span> woman munition maker and to + others who are doing men's work. In a memorable speech on + the Second Reading of the Special Register Bill, he admitted + that the women of this country have rendered as effective + service in the prosecution of the war as any other class of + the community. "It is true they cannot fight in the gross + material sense of going out with rifles and so forth, but + they fill our munition factories, they are doing the work + which the men who are fighting had to perform before, they + have taken their places, they are the servants of the State + and they have aided in the most effective way in the + prosecution of the war."</p> + + <p>Our munition women are in the shipyards, the engineering + shops, the aeroplane sheds, the shell shops, flocking in + thousands into the cities, leaving homes and friends to work in + the munition cities we have built since the war. When our great + arsenals and factories empty, women pour out in thousands. + Night and day they have worked as the men have and it has been + no easy or light task. We know that still more will be + <span class="pagenum"><a name="page126" + id="page126"></a>[pg 126]</span> demanded of us, but we + think, as our four million men do, that these things are + well worth doing for the freedom of the souls of the + nations.</p> + + <p>In the munition factories that feeling and conviction burns + like a flame and the enemy who thinks to demoralize our men and + our women by bombing our homes and our workshops finds the + workers, men and women, only made more determined.</p> + + <p>The women handle high explosives in the "danger buildings" + for ten and a half hours in a shift, making and inserting the + detonating fuses, where a slip may result in their own death + and that of their comrades. Working with T.N.T. they turn + yellow—hands and face and hair—and risk poisoning. + They are called the "canary girls," and if you ask why they do + it they will tell you it isn't too much to risk when men risk + everything in the trenches—and sometimes the one they + cared for most is in a grave in France or on some other front, + and they "carry on."</p> + + <p>The Prime Minister paid a tribute to munition + <span class="pagenum"><a name="page127" + id="page127"></a>[pg 127]</span> makers in one of his + speeches when he said:</p> + + <p>"I remember perfectly well when I was Minister of Munitions + we had very dangerous work. It involved a special alteration in + one element of our shells. We had to effect that alteration. If + we had manufactured the whole thing anew it would have involved + the loss of hundreds of thousands of rounds of ammunition at a + time when we could not afford it. But the adaptation of the old + element with a fuse is a very dangerous operation, and there + were several fatal accidents. It was all amongst the women + workers in the munition factories; there was never a panic. + They stuck to their work. They knew the peril. They never ran + away from it."</p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page129" + id="page129"></a>[pg 129]</span> + + <h3>CHAPTER VII</h3> + + <h2>THE PROTECTION OF WOMEN IN INDUSTRY</h2> + + <div class="poem"> + <div class="stanza"> + <p>"Are our faces grave, and our eyes intent?</p> + + <p>Is every ounce that is in us bent</p> + + <p>On the uttermost pitch of accomplishment?</p> + + <p><i>Though it's long and long the day is.</i></p> + + <p>Ah! we know what it means if we fool or slack;</p> + + <p>—A rifle jammed—and one comes not + back;</p> + + <p>And we never forget—it's for us they gave.</p> + + <p>And so we will slave, and slave, and slave,</p> + + <p>Lest the men at the front should rue it.</p> + + <p>Their all they gave, and their lives we'll save,</p> + + <p>If the hardest of work can do it;—</p> + + <p><i>Though it's long and long the day is.</i>"</p> + </div> + </div> + + <p class="author">—JOHN + OXENHAM.</p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page131" + id="page131"></a>[pg 131]</span> + + <p>The Ministry of Munitions has a great department devoted to + the work of looking after our workers' interests.</p> + + <p>This department of the Ministry was established by Mr. Lloyd + George. Mr. Rowntree, whose work is so well known, was put in + charge.</p> + + <p>The health of the Munition Workers' Committee was set up + when the Ministry was established with the concurrence of the + Home Secretary, "To consider and advise on questions of + industrial fatigue, hours of labor, and other matters affecting + the personal health and physical efficiency of workers in + munition factories and work shops."</p> + + <p>Sir George Newman, M.D., is chairman of the committee and + the two women members are Mrs. H.J. Tennant and Miss R.E. + Squire. Memoranda on various industrial problems have been + <span class="pagenum"><a name="page132" + id="page132"></a>[pg 132]</span> drawn up by the committee + and acted upon—the first being on Sunday labour.</p> + + <p>In the early part of the war our men and women frequently + worked seven days in the week and shifts were very long for + women as for men. Practically no holidays were taken in answer + to Lord Kitchener's appeals. The regulations preventing women + from working on Sunday had been removed in a limited number of + cases. The investigation of the committee in November, 1915, + showed that Sunday labor when it meant excessive hours was bad + and it did not increase output, that the strain on foremen and + managers in particular was very great, and they recommended a + modification of the policy.</p> + + <p>In a later Memorandum, No. 12, on output in relation to + hours of work, very interesting figures were given, practically + all showing increased output as a result of shorter hours of + labor.</p> + + <p>The committee reported in Memorandum No. 5 that it was of + the opinion that continuous work by women in excess of the + normal legal limit of sixty hours per week ought to be + discontinued <span class="pagenum"><a name="page133" + id="page133"></a>[pg 133]</span> as soon as practicable, and + that the shift system should be used instead of + overtime.</p> + + <p>A special Memorandum, No. 4, was entirely concerned with the + employment of women and dealt with hours, conditions, rest and + meals, management and supervision, and it strongly urged every + precaution and protection for women.</p> + + <p>The Welfare Department meantime had started on its work of + securing, training and appointing Welfare Supervisors, Miss + Alleyne looking after that branch of the work.</p> + + <p>The Department was "charged, with the general responsibility + of securing a high standard of conditions" for the workers.</p> + + <p>The growth of the work has been enormous. The Ministry of + Munitions today has large numbers of Welfare Supervisors with + every Government establishment and the controlled + establishments have them also. In Government shops they are + paid by the Ministry, in controlled establishments by the + management and their <span class="pagenum"><a name="page134" + id="page134"></a>[pg 134]</span> appointment is notified to + the Welfare Department.</p> + + <p>The Ministry has issued a leaflet on "Duties of Welfare + Supervisors for Women," which is given at the end of this + chapter.</p> + + <p>It will be seen that the Welfare Worker must be a rather + wonderful person. She must be tactful, know how to handle + girls, and be a person of judgment and decision. We have + succeeded in securing a very large number of admirable women + and excellent work is being done. The Welfare Workers are in + their turn inspected by Welfare Inspectors and Miss Proud, the + Chief Inspector in dangerous factories, who sees the + precautions against risk of poisoning from Tri-nitro-toluol, + Tetryl, the aeroplane wing dope, etc., are all carried out by + the management, has written an admirable textbook on welfare + work. The country for this purpose is divided into nine areas, + and two women inspectors work in each.</p> + + <p>Woolwich Arsenal is one of our great centres of women's work + and the Chief Welfare Supervisor there, Miss Lilian Barker, is + the most <span class="pagenum"><a name="page135" + id="page135"></a>[pg 135]</span> capable woman Supervisor in + Britain, a statesman among Supervisors. Any visitor to the + Arsenal cannot help being struck by the general impression + of contentment, happiness and health of the woman worker + there in her thousands. It is rare to see a sickly face + among them, even among the girls in the Danger Zone. Miss + Barker is constantly adding to her own staff of supervisors + and training others for provincial centres. She and her + Assistants interview new hands and arrange changes and + transfers of women. She enquires into all complaints, + advises as to clothing, keeps an eye on the vast canteen + organization of Woolwich, and initiates schemes for + recreation—notices of whist drives, dances and + concerts are constantly up on the boards. The housing of the + immigrant workers—no small problem, she and her + assistants deal with. They suggest improvements in + conditions and are awake to signs of illness or overfatigue. + They follow the worker home and look after the young mother + and the sick girl and + women.</p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page136" + id="page136"></a>[pg 136]</span> + + <p>Hostels have been built there and all over the country by + the Government and by factory owners, and the Hostel + Supervisors have a big and useful work to do.</p> + + <p>They are very well arranged with a room for each girl and + nice rest rooms, dining rooms and good sickroom accommodations. + Rules are cut down to a minimum. Most Supervisors find out ways + of working without them.</p> + + <p>"Smoking is allowed at this end of the restroom," said one + Superintendent, "but since we have permitted this recreation, + it seems to have fallen out of favour," which seems to show + munition girls are very human.</p> + + <p>Hutments have also been built for married couples. Lodgings + are inspected and when suitable, scheduled for workers coming + to the area. In some cases the management in private factories + do not adopt formal welfare workers but get a woman of the + right type and put her in charge of the female operatives, with + generally excellent results. The value of the influence of this + work on our girls cannot be over-estimated—it + <span class="pagenum"><a name="page137" + id="page137"></a>[pg 137]</span> is an influence of the very + best kind, and our experiences in munition and welfare work, + every class of women working together, is going to be of + great and permanent good.</p> + + <div class="figright" + style="width:30%;"> + <a href="images/plate145.jpg"><img width="100%" + src="images/plate145.jpg" + alt="AN OFFICIAL BOOKLET FOR MUNITION WORKERS" /> + </a>AN OFFICIAL BOOKLET FOR MUNITION WORKERS + </div> + + <p>The professional woman and the girls who flock to London in + large numbers for work in Government Departments, must be + housed also, and there are many extremely good Hostels. Bedford + House, the old Bedford College for Women, is now a delightful + Hostel run by the Y.W.C.A., whose work for munition girls + deserves very special mention. They had Hostels over the + country before the war and have added to these. They have set + up Clubs all over the country for the girls in munitions and + industry in 150 centres, and these are very much appreciated + and used by thousands of girls.</p> + + <p>The feeding of the munition worker is another great piece of + work. It started, like so many of our things, in voluntary + effort. The conditions of the men and women working all night + and without any possibility of getting anything warm to eat and + drink and, exhausted with their heavy + <span class="pagenum"><a name="page138" + id="page138"></a>[pg 138]</span> work, made people feel + something must be done, and the first efforts were to send + round barrows with hot tea and coffee and sandwiches, etc. + More and more it was realized that the provision of proper + meals for the workers, men and women, was indispensable for + the maintenance of output on which our fighting forces + depended for their very lives—and the Government, the + Y.M.C.A., the Y.W.C.A. and various other agencies, started + to establish canteens. The Y.W.C.A. alone in its canteens + serves 80,000 meals a week. Large numbers of private firms + have established their own canteens.</p> + + <p>The Health of Munition Workers Committee reported, in + November, 1915, that it was extremely desirable to establish + canteens in every factory in which it would be useful. Many + canteens existed before the war, but they have been added to + enormously and the recommendations of the committee as to + accessibility, attractiveness, form, food and service carried + out.</p> + + <p>The Canteen Committee of the Liquor Control Board who have + looked after this work have + <span class="pagenum"><a name="page139" + id="page139"></a>[pg 139]</span> issued an admirable + official pamphlet, "Feeding the Munition Worker," in which + plans for construction and all details are given. An ideal + canteen should always provide facilities for the worker to + heat his or her own food.</p> + + <p>The prices are very reasonable, and in most cases only cover + cost of food and service, soup and bread is 4 cents—cut + from joint and two vegetables, 12 to 16 cents.</p> + + <div class="poem"> + <div class="stanza"> + <p>Puddings, 2 to 4 cents,</p> + + <p>Bread and cheese, 3 to 4 cents,</p> + + <p>Tea, coffee and cocoa, 2 cents a cup,</p> + </div> + </div> + + <p>and a variety is arranged in the week's menu.</p> + + <p>The Y.W.C.A. Huts are very popular. In some of them the + girls get dinners for 10 cents, and the dinner includes joint, + vegetables and pudding.</p> + + <p>There are comfortable chairs in them in which girls can rest + and attractive magazines and books to read in the little + restrooms. The workers in charge of these canteens are educated + women and the waiting and service is done by voluntary helpers. + There is not only excellent + <span class="pagenum"><a name="page140" + id="page140"></a>[pg 140]</span> feeding for our workers in + these canteens, but there is great economy in food and fuel. + To cook 400 dinners together is much less wasteful than to + cook them separately, and the cooks in these are generally + trained economists.</p> + + <p>The children, too, are not forgotten. Our welfare workers + follow the young mother home and find out if the children are + all right and well taken care of. We have done even more in the + war than before for our babies and the infant death rate is + falling. We have established excellent creches and nurseries + where they are needed.</p> + + <p>It is impossible to overestimate the value of all this work + in industry. The Prime Minister, speaking last year on this + subject, said, "It is a strange irony, but no small + compensation, that the making of weapons of destruction should + afford the occasion to humanize industry. Yet such is the case. + Old prejudices have vanished, new ideas are abroad; employers + and workers, the public and the State, are all favourable to + new methods. The opportunity must not be allowed to slip. It + may well be that, when the + <span class="pagenum"><a name="page141" + id="page141"></a>[pg 141]</span> tumult of war is a distant + echo and the making of munitions a nightmare of the past, + the effort now being made to soften asperities, to secure + the welfare of the workers, and to build a bridge of + sympathy and understanding between employer and employed, + will have left behind results of permanent and enduring + value to the workers, to the nation and to mankind at + large."</p> + + <p>I am no believer in the gloomy predictions of industrial + revolutions after the war. We will have revolutions—but + of the right kind and one thing has been clearly shown, that + the workers of our country are not only loyal citizens but + realize every issue of this conflict as vividly as anyone else. + On their work, men and women, our Navy, our Army and our + country, have depended—and they have not failed us in any + real thing.</p> + + <h3>MINISTRY OF MUNITIONS.</h3> + <hr class="short" /> + + <h4>DUTIES OF WELFARE SUPERVISORS FOR WOMEN.</h4> + + <center> + (Sometimes called EMPLOYMENT SUPERINTENDENTS.) + </center> + <hr class="short" /> + + <blockquote> + <p>NOTE.—It is not suggested that all these duties + <span class="pagenum"><a name="page142" + id="page142"></a>[pg 142]</span> should be imposed upon + the Employment Superintendent directly she is appointed. + The size of the Factory will to a certain extent + determine the scope of her work, and in assigning her + duties regard will of course be had to her professional + ability to cope with them.</p> + + <p>These officers are responsible solely to the firms that + employ them, and in no sense to the Ministry of + Munitions.</p> + </blockquote> + <hr class="short" /> + + <p>The experience which has now been obtained in National and + other Factories making munitions of war has demonstrated that + the post of Welfare Supervisor is a valuable asset to Factory + management wherever women are employed. Through this channel + attention has been drawn to conditions of work, previously + unnoted, which were inimical to the well-being of those + employed. The following notes have, therefore, been prepared + for the information of employers who have not hitherto engaged + such officers, but who desire to know the position a Welfare + Supervisor <span class="pagenum"><a name="page143" + id="page143"></a>[pg 143]</span> should take and the duties + and authority which, it is suggested, might be delegated to + her.</p> + + <h3>POSITION.</h3> + + <p>It has generally been found convenient that the Welfare + Supervisor should be directly responsible to the General + Manager, and should be given a definite position on the + managerial staff in connection with the Labour Employment + Department of the Factory. She is thus able to refer all + matters calling for attention direct to the General Manager, + and may be regarded by him as a liaison between him and the + various Departments dealing with the women employees.</p> + + <h3>DUTIES.</h3> + + <p>The duty of a Welfare Supervisor is to obtain and to + maintain a healthy staff of workers and to help in maintaining + satisfactory conditions for the work.</p> + + <p>In order to obtain a staff satisfactory both from the point + of view of health and technical efficiency, it has been found + to be an advantage <span class="pagenum"><a name="page144" + id="page144"></a>[pg 144]</span> to bring the Welfare + Supervisor into the business of selecting women and girls + for employment.</p> + + <h4>I. THE OBTAINING OF A HEALTHY STAFF.</h4> + + <p>Her function is to consider the general health, physical + capacity and character of each applicant. As regards those + under 16 years of age, she could obtain useful advice as to + health from the Certifying Surgeon when he grants Certificates + of fitness. The Management can, if they think fit, empower her + to refer for medical advice to their panel Doctor, other + applicants concerning whose general fitness she is in doubt. + This selection of employees furnishes the Welfare Supervisor + with a valuable opportunity for establishing a personal link + with the workers.</p> + + <p>Her function is thus concerned with selection on general + grounds, while the actual engaging of those selected may be + carried out by the Overlooker or other person responsible for + the technical side of the work. In this way both aspects of + appointment receive full consideration.</p> + + <p>The Management may find further that it is + <span class="pagenum"><a name="page145" + id="page145"></a>[pg 145]</span> useful to consult the + Welfare Supervisor as to promotions of women in the Factory, + thus continuing the principle of regarding not only + technical efficiency but also general considerations in the + control of the women in the Factory.</p> + + <h4>II. THE MAINTAINING OF A HEALTHY STAFF.</h4> + + <p>The Welfare Supervisor should ascertain what are the + particular needs of the workers. These needs will then be found + to group themselves under two headings:</p> + + <blockquote> + <p>(<i>a</i>) Needs within the Factory—Intramural + Welfare.</p> + + <p>(<i>b</i>) Needs outside the Factory—Extramural + Welfare.</p> + </blockquote> + + <h3>INTRAMURAL WELFARE.</h3> + + <h4>I. SUPERVISION OF WORKING CONDITIONS.</h4> + + <p>The Welfare Supervisor may be made responsible for the + following matters:</p> + + <blockquote> + <p>(<i>a</i>) <i>General behaviour of women and girls + inside the factory.</i>—While responsibility for the + <span class="pagenum"><a name="page146" + id="page146"></a>[pg 146]</span> technical side of the + work must rest with the Technical Staff, the Welfare + Supervisor should be responsible for all questions of + general behaviour.</p> + + <p>(<i>b</i>) <i>Transfer.</i>—The Welfare Supervisor + would, if the health of a woman was affected by the + particular process on which she is engaged, be allowed, + after having consulted the Foreman concerned, to suggest to + the Management the possibility of transfer of the woman to + work more suited to her state of health.</p> + + <p>(<i>c</i>) <i>Night Supervision.</i>—The Welfare + Supervisor should have a deputy for night work and should + herself occasionally visit the Factory at night to see that + satisfactory conditions are maintained.</p> + + <p>(<i>d</i>) <i>Dismissal.</i>—It will be in keeping + with the general suggestions as to the functions of the + Welfare Supervisor if she is consulted on general grounds + with regard to the dismissal of women and girls.</p> + + <p>(<i>e</i>) <i>The maintenance of healthy + conditions.</i>—This + <span class="pagenum"><a name="page147" + id="page147"></a>[pg 147]</span> implies that she + should, from the point of view of the health of the + female employees, see to the general cleanliness, + ventilation and warmth of the Factory and keep the + Management informed of the results of her + observations.</p> + + <p>(<i>f</i>) <i>The provision of seats.</i>—She + should study working conditions so as to be able to bring + to the notice of the Management the necessity for the + provision of seats where these are possible.</p> + </blockquote> + + <h4>II. CANTEEN.</h4> + + <p>Unless the Factory is a small one it would hardly be + possible for the Welfare Supervisor to manage the canteen. The + Management will probably prefer to entrust the matter to an + expert who should satisfy the Management in consultation with + the Welfare Supervisor on the following matters:—</p> + + <blockquote> + <p>(1) That the Canteen provides all the necessary + facilities for the women workers; that + <span class="pagenum"><a name="page148" + id="page148"></a>[pg 148]</span> is to say, suitable + food, rapidly and punctually served.</p> + + <p>(2) That Canteen facilities are provided when necessary + for the women before they begin work so that no one need + start work without having taken food.</p> + + <p>(3) That the Canteen is as restful and as comfortable as + possible so that it serves a double purpose of providing + rest as well as food.</p> + </blockquote> + + <h4>III. SUPERVISION OF AMBULANCE RESTROOM AND FIRST AID.</h4> + + <p>While not responsible for actually attending to accidents, + except in small Factories, the Welfare Supervisor should work + in close touch with the Factory Doctor and Nurses. She should, + however, be responsible for the following matters:—</p> + + <blockquote> + <p>(1) She should help in the selection of the Nurses, who + should be recognised as belonging to the Welfare staff.</p> + + <p>(2) While not interfering with the Nurses + <span class="pagenum"><a name="page149" + id="page149"></a>[pg 149]</span> in the professional + discharge of their duties, she should see that their + work is carried out promptly and that the workers are + not kept waiting long before they receive attention.</p> + + <p>(3) She should supervise the keeping of all records of + accident and illness in the Ambulance Room.</p> + + <p>(4) She should keep in touch with all cases of serious + accident or illness.</p> + </blockquote> + + <p>It would further be useful if she were allowed to be kept in + touch with the Compensation Department inside the Factory with + a view to advising on any cases of hardship that may arise.</p> + + <h4>IV. SUPERVISION OF CLOAK-ROOMS AND SANITARY + CONVENIENCES.</h4> + + <p>The Welfare Supervisor should be held responsible for the + following matters:—</p> + + <blockquote> + <p>(1) General cleanliness.</p> + + <p>(2) Prevention of Loitering.</p> + + <p>(3) Prevention of Pilfering.</p> + </blockquote> + + <p>The Management will decide what staff is necessary + <span class="pagenum"><a name="page150" + id="page150"></a>[pg 150]</span> to assist her, and it + should be her duty to report to the Management on these + matters.</p> + + <h4>V. PROVISION OF OVERALLS.</h4> + + <p>The Welfare Supervisor should have the duty of supervising + the Protective Clothing supplied to the women for their + work.</p> + + <h3>EXTRAMURAL WELFARE.</h3> + + <p>The Welfare Supervisor should keep in touch with all outside + agencies responsible for:—</p> + + <blockquote> + <p>(1) Housing.</p> + + <p>(2) Transit facilities.</p> + + <p>(3) Sickness and Maternity cases.</p> + + <p>(4) Recreation.</p> + + <p>(5) Day Nurseries.</p> + </blockquote> + + <p>In communicating with any of these agencies it will no doubt + be preferable that she should do so through the Management.</p> + + <h4>III. RECORDS.</h4> + + <p><i>A</i>. The Welfare Supervisor should for the purpose of + her work have some personal records of + <span class="pagenum"><a name="page151" + id="page151"></a>[pg 151]</span> every woman employee. If a + card-index system is adopted, a sample card suggesting the + necessary particulars which it is desirable should be kept + by Welfare Supervisors is supplied to employers on + request.</p> + + <p><i>B</i>. The Welfare Supervisor should have some way of + observing the health in relation to the efficiency of the + workers, and if the Management approved this could be done:</p> + + <blockquote> + <p>(<i>a</i>) By allowing her to keep in touch with the + Wages Department. She could then watch the rise and fall of + wages earned by individual employees from the point of view + that a steady fall in earnings may be the first indication + of an impending breakdown in health.</p> + + <p>(<i>b</i>) By allowing her to keep in touch with the + Time Office she should be able to obtain records of all + reasons for lost time. From such records information can be + obtained of sickness, inadequate transit and urgent + domestic duties, which might otherwise not be discovered. + Here again, if a card-index system + <span class="pagenum"><a name="page152" + id="page152"></a>[pg 152]</span> is adopted a sample + card for this purpose can be obtained from the Welfare + and Health Section on request.</p> + + <p>(<i>c</i>) By keeping records of all cases of accident + and sickness occurring in the Factory. Sample Ambulance + Books and Accident Record Cards can also be obtained from + the Welfare and Health Section.</p> + </blockquote><span class="pagenum"><a name="page153" + id="page153"></a>[pg 153]</span> + + <h3>CHAPTER VIII</h3> + + <h2>"THE WOMEN'S LAND ARMY"</h2> + + <blockquote> + <p>"If it were not for the women, agriculture would be at + an absolute standstill on many farms in England and Wales + today."</p> + </blockquote> + + <p class="author">—<i>President of the Board of + Agriculture.</i></p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page155" + id="page155"></a>[pg 155]</span> + + <p>The Land Army of Women, which now numbers over 258,300 whole + and part-time workers, has done splendid work. For some years + before the war women had been very little used on the land in + certain parts of England and Wales. In Scotland and in some of + the English counties there had always been, and still were, + quite fair numbers of women on the land.</p> + + <p>Within eighteen months of the outbreak of war, about 300,000 + agricultural laborers had enlisted and the work had been + carried on with difficulty by the farmer in the first year of + the war. The farmer secured all the labor he could, old men + returned to help, and the army released skilled men + temporarily, from training, to help. Soldiers were used in + groups for seasonal work, the farmer paying a good rate for + them. Groups of women were also organized for seasonal work + <span class="pagenum"><a name="page156" + id="page156"></a>[pg 156]</span> by various voluntary + organizations, two of these being the Land Council and the + Women's National Land Service Corps. The Women's Farm and + Garden Union also did good work. The Land Service Corps made + one of its most important objects the organization of + village women into working gangs under leaders. One + interesting piece of work undertaken by the Corps last year + was finding a large number of women for flax-pulling in + Somerset. This the Flax-Growers' Association asked them to + do as sufficient local labor could not be raised. The War + Agricultural Committee made all the local arrangements. This + was pioneer work of great value and importance as flax is + essential in the making of aeroplane wings.</p> + + <p>The Corps sent a group of 100 women under competent gang + leaders. The workers were housed in an empty country house and + the War Office provided bedding. The Y.W.C.A. undertook the + catering at the request of the Corps. The work, which was a + great success, consisted in + <span class="pagenum"><a name="page157" + id="page157"></a>[pg 157]</span> pulling, gating, wind + mowing, stocking and tying flax.</p> + + <p>The Corps has already been asked to undertake this again + next year. Owing to the Russian troubles and the closing of the + Port of Riga, it will be necessary to put many more hundreds of + acres under cultivation and it is probable four or five times + as many women will be needed next year.</p> + + <p>Some of the Corps members are doing good work in Army + Remount Depots, working in the stables and exercising the + horses. One of the latest interesting developments of women's + work is in the care of sick horses, carried out in the Horse + Hospital in London.</p> + + <p>Within nine months of the outbreak of war, it was clear we + must secure help for the farmers, in order to enable them to do + their work. As the submarine menace developed, and the supply + of grain in the world was affected by the numbers of men taken + away from production, it was clear we must try to grow more + food.</p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page158" + id="page158"></a>[pg 158]</span> + + <p>Our grain production at the best was only twelve weeks of + our supply, and even to keep up to that seemed to be a + problem.</p> + + <p>It was clear that in agriculture, as in so many other + things, women must fill up the ranks, and in the first official + appeal of the Government for additional woman labor, the land + had an important place.</p> + + <p>Lord Selborne, President of the Board of Agriculture, drew + up a scheme for the organization of agriculture throughout the + country. It consisted of War Agricultural Committee set up in + each county who look after production, use of land, procuring + use of motor machinery, etc., and of Women's Agricultural + Committees. The latter undertake the organization of securing + women workers for the land, choosing them, and arranging for + training and placing out.</p> + + <p>The voluntary groups of women who have been working at the + problem in the war are now practically all merged in the Board + of Agriculture's organization. The Women's Branch of the Food + Production Department now controls and + <span class="pagenum"><a name="page159" + id="page159"></a>[pg 159]</span> arranged the whole work and + Miss Meriel Talbot is the able chief.</p> + + <p>The Women's Land Corps, like the other organizations, was + prepared to be merged in the new Land Army of the Board and to + cease to exist as a separate organization. Its members were + willing to become part of the new Land Army.</p> + + <p>The Board found there was a distinct need for a voluntary + association which would continue to enroll women, who could not + sign on for the duration of the war, and who were able to + forego the benefits of free training, outfit and travelling + given under the Government scheme. Over 100 members of the + Corps did enroll and the original Corps members do not require + to appear before the local Selection Committees nor to submit + references, which marks the Board's confidence in the + Corps.</p> + + <p>Many of the Corps Workers are now organizing Secretaries for + the Counties or Assistant Secretaries, or are travelling + Inspectors under the Board of + Agriculture.</p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page160" + id="page160"></a>[pg 160]</span> + + <p>The Corps still organizes the supply of temporary workers + for seasonal jobs such as potato dropping, hoeing, harvesting, + fruitpicking, potato and root lifting, etc., done by groups + under leaders. The work of organizing in the Counties is + carried out by the appointment of a woman as District + representative. She is responsible for a general supervision of + the work in all the villages in her district. Each village has + a woman to act as Registrar and her duty (with assistants, if + necessary) is to canvass all the village women and girls for + volunteers for whole and part time work, and for training, and + to canvass the farmer to find out what labour he needs, and in + the beginning they had to induce him to use women. She puts the + farmer and the women suitable for his needs in her own + district, in touch with each other, and passes to the District + Representative and to the Employment Exchanges the names of all + women qualified to help and not placed, and of those willing to + train.</p> + + <p>All these committees, registrars and representatives are + honorary workers. The Board of + <span class="pagenum"><a name="page161" + id="page161"></a>[pg 161]</span> Agriculture appoints to + each County for work with the committee a woman Organizing + Secretary, and assistant also if necessary.</p> + + <p>The Board of Agriculture, working through the Employment + Exchanges and under the direction of their women heads, + arranged a series of meetings and work of propaganda by posters + and leaflets throughout the whole country early in 1916.</p> + + <p>The Representatives and Registrars organized the meetings to + which the farmers and the women were invited, and the whole + scheme was explained. These were very frequently held in the + market towns on market day and the farmer and his wife came in + to hear after the sales. We had to assail the prejudices of + some of our farmers pretty vigorously and of the women, too. We + found the women who volunteered best for land work were in the + class above the industrial worker, and that the comfortable and + well educated woman stood its work admirably.</p> + + <p>The farmers were stiff to move in some cases and especially + disliked the idea of having to train + <span class="pagenum"><a name="page162" + id="page162"></a>[pg 162]</span> the women. "They weren't + going to run after women all day—they had too much to + do to go messing round with girls!" This objection was met + by the Board of Agriculture arranging training centres in + every county. Some of the training was done at the Women's + Agricultural Colleges and among places that arranged + training very early were the Harper Adam's College in + Shropshire (Swanley); Garford (Leeds); Sparsholt + (Winchester); The Midland Agricultural Training College + (Kingston), and Aberystwith.</p> + + <p>The Women's Agricultural Committee have arranged a great + many training centres at big farms and on the Home farms of + some of our estates.</p> + + <p>The girls volunteering for training must be eighteen years + of age. They are interviewed as to suitability and references + by the Selection Committee. They must have a medical + certificate filled in by their own doctor or by one of the + committee's doctors.</p> + + <div class="figright" + style="width:30%;"> + <a href="images/plate172.jpg"><img width="100%" + src="images/plate172.jpg" + alt="BACK TO THE LAND: WOMEN TACKLE A STRONG MAN'S PROBLEM" /> + </a>BACK TO THE LAND<br /> + WOMEN TACKLE A STRONG MAN'S PROBLEM + </div> + + <p>On being passed, they go to the training centre, the + travelling expenses being paid by the Board. + <span class="pagenum"><a name="page163" + id="page163"></a>[pg 163]</span> Outfit is free and the + uniform is a very sensible one of breeches, tunic, boots and + gaiters or puttees, and soft hat, breeches, etc., cut to + measure for each girl. Training and maintenance are free and + there is always an instructor on the farm in addition to the + farmer and his workers. The travelling to the post found, is + again paid by the Government, and if work is not found at + once, on completion of training, maintenance is paid till it + is.</p> + + <p>The training is generally of four to six weeks' duration and + in some cases longer, and over 7,000 women have been trained in + this way and placed.</p> + + <p>Appeals for land recruits were made in February, 1916, and + in January and April, 1917, when the Women's National Service + Department asked for 100,000 women.</p> + + <p>The Land Army women after three months' service receive an + official armlet—a green band with lion rampant in red and + a certificate of honour. The Land women are the only women who + receive an armlet—the munition girl wears a triangular + brass brooch with "On war + service."</p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page164" + id="page164"></a>[pg 164]</span> + + <p>To induce the conservative farmer to try the women, + exhibitions of farm work were arranged in different part of the + country with great success, and the girls showed they could + plough, and weed and hoe and milk and care for stock, and do + all the farm work, except the heaviest, extremely well.</p> + + <p>The War Office in its official memorandum of 1916 gives a + long list of the farm and garden work in which women are + successfully employed, and they have been particularly + successful in the care of stock.</p> + + <p>The farmer who used to declare he would never have a woman + and that they were no use, and who has them now, is always + quite pleased and generally cherishes a profound conviction + that the reason why his women are all right is because he has + the most exceptional ones in the country.</p> + + <p>Housing the worker and especially the groups for seasonal + work has been a problem, but it has been done and the feeding + of groups well has been managed, too.</p> + + <p>The housing conditions for the girl going to + <span class="pagenum"><a name="page165" + id="page165"></a>[pg 165]</span> work whole-time are + investigated by the Board organizer, and the representatives + of committee. Very frequently a small group of girls have a + cottage on the farm.</p> + + <p>The Inspectors of the Board are in charge of three counties + each and look after all conditions.</p> + + <p>The girls are now being trained to drive the motor tractors + for ploughing, and for women who understand horses there is at + present a greater demand than supply.</p> + + <p>The Women's Branch of the Board is also at this time + appealing for well-educated women to aid in Timber Supply for + two pieces of work—measuring trees when felled, + calculating the amount of wood in the log, and marking off for + sawing, and as forewomen to superintend cross-cutting, felling + small timber and coppice and to do the lighter work of + forestry.</p> + + <p>Girls and women are in market gardens and on private gardens + in very large numbers. The King has a great many women in his + gardens and conservatories. Most estates are growing as many + vegetables as possible to supply the + <span class="pagenum"><a name="page166" + id="page166"></a>[pg 166]</span> many hospitals and the + Fleet, and girls are helping very much in this. A great deal + has been done by work in allotments, plots of land taken up + by town dwellers and cultivated. In one part of South Wales + alone 40,000 allotments have been worked and the allotment + holders are organizing themselves co-operatively for the + purchase of seed, etc. We have Governmental powers now not + only to enable Local Authorities to secure unused land for + allotments, but to compel farmers to cultivate all their + ground. We have fixed a price for wheat for five years, and + a minimum wage for the agricultural man and woman.</p> + + <p>The girls on the land improve in health and increase in + weight. The work is not only of supreme usefulness to the + country—we have the submarine ceaselessly gnawing at our + shipping and making our burden heavier—so we must produce + everything possible. It has improved the physique of our + girls—they like it, and many will permanently adopt it. + Our Board of Agriculture is also encouraging, for the benefit + of <span class="pagenum"><a name="page167" + id="page167"></a>[pg 167]</span> the country woman, the + formation of Women's Institutes, like those in Canada and + America.</p> + + <p>In the Lord Mayor's Procession in London, on November 9, + 1917, with the men-in-arms of all our great Commonwealth of + Nations, with the Turks and the captured German aeroplanes and + guns, the munition girls and the Land girls marched. No group + in all that great array had a warmer welcome from our vast + crowds than our sensibly clothed, healthy, happy and supremely + useful Land girls.</p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page169" + id="page169"></a>[pg 169]</span> + + <h3>CHAPTER IX</h3> + + <h2>WAR SAVINGS—THE MONEY BEHIND THE GUNS</h2> + + <blockquote> + <p>"You cannot have absolute equality of sacrifice in a + war. That is impossible. But you can have equal readiness + to sacrifice from all. There are hundreds of thousands who + have given their lives, there are millions who have given + up comfortable homes and exchanged them for a daily + communion with death. Multitudes have given up those whom + they loved best. Let the nation as a whole place its + comforts, its luxuries, its indulgences, its elegances, on + a national altar, consecrated by such sacrifices as these + men have made."</p> + </blockquote> + + <p class="author">—THE PRIME MINISTER.</p> + + <blockquote> + <p>"Deep down in the heart of every one of us there is the + spirit of love for our native land, dulled it may be in + some cases, perhaps temporarily obscured, by hardship, + injustice and suffering, but it is there and it remains for + us to touch the chord which will bring it to life; once + aroused it will prove irresistible."</p> + </blockquote> + + <p class="author">—Sir R.M. KINDERSLEY, + K.B.E.</p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page171" + id="page171"></a>[pg 171]</span> + + <p>To win the war, we must save. There is no task more + imperative, no need more urgent, and there is no greater work + than the work of educating the peoples of our countries, and + inducing them to save and lend to their Governments.</p> + + <p>The first Government Committee set up in Britain to do + propaganda work for war loans was established shortly after the + war under the title of the "Parliamentary War Savings + Committee." It did some propaganda for the early war loans. At + the same time a very interesting group of people associated + with the "Round Table," and including in it many of our most + able financiers and economists—such men as the future + chairman of the National War Savings Committee, Sir Robert M. + Kindersley, K.B.E.; C.J. Stewart, the Public Trustee; Hartley + <span class="pagenum"><a name="page172" + id="page172"></a>[pg 172]</span> Withers, Lord Sumner, T.L. + Gilmour, Theodore Chambers (now Controller of the National + War Savings Committee), Evan Hughes (now + Organizer-in-Chief), Lieut. J.H. Curle, Countess Ferrers, + Basil Blackett, C.B.; William Schooling and Mrs. Minty, Hon. + Sec. Excellent articles were written, leaflets published and + meetings held at which many of us spoke throughout the + country, and valuable work was done towards educating groups + of useful people in the country.</p> + + <p>In 1915 a committee was appointed by the House of Commons to + go into the whole question of Loans and Methods. The committee + was presided over by Mr. E.S. Montagu, and its findings were of + great interest. It advised the immediate setting up of a + committee whose task it would be to create machinery by which + the small investor might be assisted to invest in State + Securities, and secondly, to educate the country as a whole on + the imperative need of economy. The Lords Commissioners of His + Majesty's Treasury set up the National War Savings Committee in + March, 1916, and in April, 1917, it became a Government + <span class="pagenum"><a name="page173" + id="page173"></a>[pg 173]</span> Department. The first + chairman was George Barnes, Esq., M.P., but very soon the + chairmanship was taken by Sir Robert Kindersley, a director + of the Bank of England, who has spent himself unceasingly in + his great task.</p> + + <p>The committee started its work with a very small staff, Mr. + Schooling being one of the original half-dozen in it, and the + schemes and methods of work were evolved. It works in its + organization by setting up committees. The County is the + biggest unit and the Hon. Secretary of the County works at + setting up Local Committees, which are established in towns + with under 20,000 of a population, and we put a group of + parishes together in rural districts under one Local Committee. + All towns, cities and boroughs over 20,000 population are set + up by Headquarters and have Local Central Committees. There are + now in England and Wales over 1,580 of these committees. + Scotland is worked by a separate committee. Linked up to these + committees and represented on them, the War Savings + Associations work, and there are now altogether over 40,000 of + these with a weekly subscribing membership of over 7,000,000 + people.</p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page174" + id="page174"></a>[pg 174]</span> + + <div class="figcenter" + style="width:60%;"> + <a href="images/184.png"><img width="100%" + src="images/184.png" + alt="6 REASONS Why <u>YOU</u> Should Save" /> + </a>POSTER ISSUED BY NATIONAL WAR SAVINGS COMMITTEE + </div><span class="pagenum"><a name="page175" + id="page175"></a>[pg 175]</span> + + <p>The committees also did the propaganda work for the + January-February Loan of 1917, when five billion dollars was + raised (£1,000,000,000) and over eight million people (out of + our population of forty-five millions) subscribed to the + loan.</p> + + <p>The work of the committees was admirable at that time and + assisted materially in the success of the loan.</p> + + <p>The National War Savings Committee was also asked by Lord + Devonport in April to assist the Ministry of Food by doing, + through its committees, a great food-saving propaganda. This + request was made, because, it was explained, the War Savings + Committees are the best organized and most thoroughly + democratic Government organization in the country. This + propaganda was also done with marked success. In autumn of this + year the committees have done an extensive campaign of + education, and of work to + <span class="pagenum"><a name="page176" + id="page176"></a>[pg 176]</span> strengthen and enlarge + their associations, and also to push the sale of the new War + Bonds.</p> + + <p>The Treasury's policy now is to raise all the money needed + by the wisest borrowing from the people—day by day + borrowing.</p> + + <p>The entire work of the committees and associations is done + voluntarily—nothing is paid in the whole country for the + work, and the only charge is Headquarters Staff and propaganda + expenses. The County Secretaries are in most cases Board of + Education Inspectors whom the Board has generously allowed to + help.</p> + + <p>The War Saving Association is the body that sells the War + Savings Certificates, which are very much like the American + ones. These are also sold at all Post Offices and Banks. They + cost 15/6 each, and in five years from date of purchase are + worth £1. The interest in the fifth year is at the rate of + £5.4.7 per cent. The interest begins at the end of the first + year and the certificates can be cashed at any time at the Post + Office with interest to the date of cashing. The War Savings + Certificate has the additional + <span class="pagenum"><a name="page177" + id="page177"></a>[pg 177]</span> advantage that its interest + is free of income tax, and in a country where income tax + begins above £120 ($600), and is then at rate of 2/3 in £1 + (over 10 per cent) on earned income and 3/. on unearned, its + advantage is very clear. The interest does not need to be + included in income returns—but no one may buy more + than 500 certificates. It is a specially good paying + security intended only for the small saver.</p> + + <p>The War Savings Associations can be set up by any group of + people, ten or upwards, who wish to save co-operatively. They + must establish a committee, small or large. They must appoint a + Secretary and Treasurer and then apply for recognition to their + Local Committee, or if there is not one, to the National + Committee. They are given an affiliation certificate by their + committee and receive free all the books, papers, etc., + necessary for carrying on an association. These are all + supplied by the National Committee to Local Committees.</p> + + <p>The 40,000 Associations are in the Army, Navy, Munition + Works, Government establishments, + <span class="pagenum"><a name="page178" + id="page178"></a>[pg 178]</span> Railways, Banks, Mines, + Churches, Shops, social groups, clubs, men's and women's + organizations and 10,000 are in the schools. The schools, + where we receive subscriptions down to 2 cents have done + wonderful work and the teachers have done a great deal to + make our movement what it is. We find the children do the + best propaganda in the homes. One teacher, after explaining + to his children what it all meant in the morning, in the + afternoon had dozens of subscriptions, and among them a + sovereign which had been clasped tightly in a hot little + hand for a mile and a half's walk. The little boy said, "I + told Mother about it and she gave me that for fighting the + Germans."</p> + + <p>Our Associations have unearthed piles of gold, one village + association alone getting in £750 in gold ($3,750). Old + stockings have come out and one agricultural laborer brought + nine sovereigns to one of our Secretaries one night, and asked + her to invest it to help the soldiers. She said, "Why did you + bring it to me?" and he said, "Because its secreter than the + Post Office." And <span class="pagenum"><a name="page179" + id="page179"></a>[pg 179]</span> the Association has the + advantage that all its affairs are confidential, and though + figures and amounts are known, no single detail need be.</p> + + <p>The schemes are two and apart from schools, the minimum + weekly subscription is 12 cents. There is a Bank Book scheme + and a Stamp scheme in which the member holds a card which takes + thirty-one 12-cent stamps, and when filled up is handed in to + the Secretary and a War Savings Certificate is received.</p> + + <p>The financial advantage to the members of forming an + Association is quite easy to understand. Every week the takings + are invested by the Secretary (using a special slip given by + the National Committee) in War Savings Certificates, so that + when members finish subscribing for a certificate, instead of + getting one dated the day they finished paying for it, as it + would be if they saved by themselves, the Secretary has a store + of earlier dated certificates on hand, and the member receives + one of these.</p> + + <p>This works out quite fairly if one rule is + observed—never give any one a Certificate dated + <span class="pagenum"><a name="page180" + id="page180"></a>[pg 180]</span> earlier than the first week + they started paying for it.</p> + + <p>The people of England needed a great deal of education in + war saving. We had to fight the strongly held conviction that + of all sins the most despicable is "meanness," and that too + much saving may seem mean.</p> + + <p>No Englishman will ever really admit he has any money, and + he was inclined to question your right to talk about the + possibility of his having some—and your right to tell him + what to do with it, supposing he had any. Some of them were a + little suspicious that it was the workers we were talking to + most—it was not—and some of them were not quite + sure they wanted their employers to know how much they saved. + That is entirely obviated by the men running their own + associations. Other people told you the people in their + District never did, could, or would save and were spending + their big wages in the most extravagant way—that pianos + and fur coats appealed far more than war savings certificates. + The official people in the towns + <span class="pagenum"><a name="page181" + id="page181"></a>[pg 181]</span> when we approached them + about conferences said much the same in some cases, but, + yes, of course, you could come and have a conference and the + Mayor would preside and you could try. And you did, and in + six months they had dozens of associations and thousands of + members and had sold some thousands of certificates. We sell + about one and a half million certificates a week and have + sold about 140 millions since March, 1916. The appeal that + won them was not only the practical appeal of the value of + the money after the war for themselves, to buy a house, to + provide for old age, to educate the children. The strongest + appeal was the patriotic one. Save your money to save your + country. Throw your silver bullets at the enemy. We have not + been content to say only "save," we have tried to educate + our people on finance and economics. We have tried to show + them that no country can go on in a struggle like this + unless it conserves its resources—not even the richest + countries. We have tried to appeal to the spirit behind all + these things <span class="pagenum"><a name="page182" + id="page182"></a>[pg 182]</span> and our Chairman in one of + his admirable speeches said:</p> + + <p>"It is upon these simple human feelings of loyalty, + comradeship and patriotism that the great War Savings Movement + is founded. Because of the strength of this foundation I feel + convinced that we shall succeed in the great national work we + are setting out to perform. However difficult our task may + prove, however serious the times ahead, this spirit will carry + us safely and triumphantly through everything, and in the end + we shall find ourselves not weakened but strengthened on + account of these same difficulties which we shall most surely + overcome."</p> + + <p>The problem before us is the problem of finding ten times + the amount of money we did before the war for National + purposes. We are spending over $30,000,000 a day. By our + taxations, which includes an 80 per cent tax on excess profits, + we are raising over 25 per cent of our total expenditure. We + have met some other part of our expenditure in the three years + of war by using our gold reserve very heavily; a great deal + <span class="pagenum"><a name="page183" + id="page183"></a>[pg 183]</span> of it in payments in + America, where you now possess more than a third of the gold + of the entire world. We have also used a portion of our + securities, our capital wealth and past savings, and we have + had to borrow heavily. Our National Debt is now + £4,000,000,000. It was £700,000,000 at the outbreak of war. + £1,000,000,000 has been lent to our Allies and the + Dominions.</p> + + <p>Numbers of people have an impression that Governments can + find money. They can, to a certain extent, but only in a very + limited way, without great harm. There is in this creation an + addition to the buying power of the community, but if everybody + goes on spending no addition to the productive power, so it + only creates high prices and hardship. The inflation of + currency caused by it is a risk and an evil. The sound way is + to get the money by taxation, from resources and in real + voluntary loans.</p> + + <p>America's burden is very much the same as our own, and the + need here also of voluntary saving and lending to the extent of + more than <span class="pagenum"><a name="page184" + id="page184"></a>[pg 184]</span> half the expenditure is + clear. America, like ourselves, is very wisely trying to + democratise its war loans. Nothing is wiser or sounder or + more calculated to make progress, and the changes after the + war which will come, sound and steady than widely-spread, + democratically-subscribed loans. These vast debts will have + to be paid by the ability, productiveness and work of all, + so it is in the highest degree desirable that the money and + interest to be paid back should go out to every class of the + community—and not only to small sections. It is well + to remember, too, that the country that goes to the peace + table financially sound is in a position to make better + terms.</p> + + <div class="figright" + style="width:30%;"> + <a href="images/plate195.jpg"><img width="100%" + src="images/plate195.jpg" + alt="ONE OF THE POSTERS RECENTLY ISSUED BY THE NATIONAL WAR SAVINGS COMMITTEE" /> + </a>ONE OF THE POSTERS RECENTLY ISSUED BY THE NATIONAL WAR + SAVINGS COMMITTEE + </div> + + <p>But the purely financial side of war savings is not the most + important one. We talk in terms of money but the reality is not + money but goods and services. The problem before our + Governments and the problem that cannot be left to our children + (though the debts incurred in securing the credits may be) is + the problem of finding every day over $30,000,000 worth of + <span class="pagenum"><a name="page185" + id="page185"></a>[pg 185]</span> material and labour for the + struggle. War savings among the people is not only essential + to secure the money needed—it is far more essential + from the point of view of securing the cutting down of the + consumption of goods and labour by our peoples.</p> + + <p>Economists in peace time argue over what is termed "luxury" + expenditure, the wasteful expenditure of peace. War expenditure + may be correctly termed wasteful to a very great extent, and no + country can carry both of these expenditures and remain + solvent. Luxury expenditure should be entirely eliminated and + the material and labour which was absorbed by it should go into + the war. If this could be done completely, little damage would + be done to the nation's economic position. The thing to be + clearly realized is that all the productive effort of the + nation is needed for three things—the carrying on of the + war—the production of necessaries and the manufacture of + goods for export. Every civilian who uses material and labour + unnecessarily makes these tasks harder and goes into the + markets <span class="pagenum"><a name="page186" + id="page186"></a>[pg 186]</span> as an unfair competitor of + the Government. Every man and woman who saves five dollars + and lends it to their country give their country what is far + more important than the five dollars. They transfer to the + Government the five dollars worth of material and labour + they could have used up if they had spent it on themselves + and that is its real value. This means the needful purchases + of the State are substituted for, instead of added to, the + purchases of the civilian.</p> + + <p>Further, the influence of economy in preventing undue + inflation of currency and consequent high prices should be + realized. A certain amount of high prices in war is inevitable + but if civilians buy extravagantly, competition becomes intense + and prices rise beyond all need. The supplies are + limited—in our case that is greatly added to by the + submarine menace—and the demands of the Government are + enormous. The competition between the Government and the people + grows more and more intense. Prices go still higher. The + Government pays more than it should and so do the people. + Higher wages are demanded + <span class="pagenum"><a name="page187" + id="page187"></a>[pg 187]</span> with consequent higher + prices, and so you get a vicious circle that gets more and + more dangerous. If the civilian will relieve this pressure + by demanding less, and cutting down his expenditure, prices + will become more reasonable and the cost of the war + less.</p> + + <p>The chief difficulty in time of war is to make people + realize the need of economy when they have, as our people have, + more money than ever before, when enormous sums of money pour + out ceaselessly to the people from the Government. They have to + realize the fundamental difference between peace prosperity and + war prosperity. Peace prosperity comes from the creation of + wealth. War prosperity comes from the dissipation of + wealth—the use of all resources—the pledging of + credits. It is just as if we, as individuals, to meet a + personal crisis, took all our personal savings and borrowed all + we could and proceeded to spend it. The wise man or woman will + save all of it they can and realize that every unnecessary + dollar spent helps the enemy. No civilian in a struggle of this + kind has any moral <span class="pagenum"><a name="page188" + id="page188"></a>[pg 188]</span> right to more than + necessary things. We want every man and woman to have all + they need for their efficiency. We would not say for one + moment that every one can save, and money spent on clothing + and feeding the children and keeping the home comfortable is + well spent, but nothing should be wasted.</p> + + <p>The standard in this matter should be set by the rich, on + whom rests the greatest responsibility, moral and social. It is + impossible to expect workers to save if they see luxury and + extravagance everywhere round them. One cannot too strongly say + that.</p> + + <p>The civilians who work hard to produce, who have done heavy + toil in munitions and industry, and receive good wages and then + go out and spend it lavishly might just as well have slacked at + their work. The ultimate effect is the same. They have undone + the good they did. It is as if soldiers having won a trench let + the Germans come back into it.</p> + + <p>People of small means often feel that all they can save is + so small that it cannot really help + <span class="pagenum"><a name="page189" + id="page189"></a>[pg 189]</span> and wonder if the effort to + save is worth while, but if every person in America saved 2 + cents a day, it would amount to $730,000,000 in a year, and + that would find a great deal of munitions.</p> + + <p>Finding the money by saving finds everything, releases men + for the army, finds labour and money for munitions, finds + labour for ships and relieves the demands on tonnage, finds + supplies. It is the fundamental service of the civilian, and no + good citizen wants luxuries while soldiers and sailors need + clothes and guns and ships and munitions.</p> + + <p>Everybody, man, woman, and child, can join the great + financial army and march behind our men, and women have done + with us and can do everywhere a great work in this. Women are + on our National Committee and doing a great deal of its + organization. Our men in the trenches, in the air, at sea, + endure for us what we would have said before the war was + humanly unendurable. They pay for our freedom with a great + price—and we send them out to pay it—in death, + disablement, suffering and sacrifice. + <span class="pagenum"><a name="page190" + id="page190"></a>[pg 190]</span> To fail in our duty behind + them would be the great betrayal.</p> + + <p>Our treasures are very small things compared with our men. + Shall we give them and not our + money?</p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page191" + id="page191"></a>[pg 191]</span> + + <table summary="bookmark"> + <tr> + <td width="40%"> + <div class="figure" + style="width:50%;"> + <a href="images/202-1.png"><img width="100%" + src="images/202-1.png" + alt="REVERSE OF BEFORE YOU SPEND" /> + </a>REVERSE OF BEFORE YOU SPEND + </div> + </td> + + <td width="40%"> + <div class="figure" + style="width:50%;"> + <a href="images/202-2.png"><img width="100%" + src="images/202-2.png" + alt="BEFORE YOU SPEND" /></a> + </div> + </td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td colspan="2" align="center">A BOOKMARK, ISSUED BY N.W.S.C.</td> + </tr> + </table><span class="pagenum"><a name="page192" + id="page192"></a>[pg 192]</span> + + <table summary="another bookmark"> + <tr> + <td> + <div class="figure" + style="width:50%;"> + <a href="images/203-1.png"><img width="100%" + src="images/203-1.png" + alt="THINK BEFORE YOU SPEND" /></a>THINK + BEFORE YOU SPEND + </div> + </td> + + <td> + <div class="figure" + style="width:50%;"> + <a href="images/203-2.png"><img width="100%" + src="images/203-2.png" + alt="REVERSE OF HOW 15/6" /></a>REVERSE OF + HOW 15/6 + </div> + </td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td colspan="2" align="center">ANOTHER BOOKMARK</td> + </tr> + </table><span class="pagenum"><a name="page193" + id="page193"></a>[pg 193]</span> + + <h3>CHAPTER X</h3> + + <h2>FOOD PRODUCTION AND CONSERVATION</h2> + + <blockquote> + <p>"The whole country ought to realise that we are a + beleaguered city."</p> + </blockquote> + + <p class="author">—<i>The President of the Board of + Agriculture.</i></p> + + <blockquote> + <p>"If you have any belief in the cause for which thousands + of your fellow-countrymen have laid down their lives, you + will scrape and scrape and scrape, you will go in old + clothes, and old boots, and old ties until such a mass of + treasure be garnered into the coffers of the Government as + to secure at the end of all this tangle of misery a real + and lasting settlement for Europe."</p> + </blockquote> + + <p class="author">—<i>The President of the Board of + Education.</i></p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page195" + id="page195"></a>[pg 195]</span> + + <p>In this great struggle the food question assumes greater and + greater importance.</p> + + <p>The production of food has been affected by the raising of + great armies—more than twenty million men are in arms in + Europe—by the feeding of armies, for which we must, of + necessity, provide food in excess of what these men would need + in civil life. The ability to get the food has been made + difficult for us by the submarine warfare. Thousands of tons of + wheat lie in Australia, but we cannot afford ships to bring it. + Tea has been very short in England, though again there are + thousands of tons waiting in India. The most urgent need of the + Allies is for ships and more ships. There has been great loss + of tonnage and the needs of the Army and Navy absorb the + service of vast numbers of the available ships. We have moved + 13,000,000 men since <span class="pagenum"><a name="page196" + id="page196"></a>[pg 196]</span> war broke out, and the + supplies and munitions they have needed, to our many fronts. + Ceaselessly we move the wounded. We have to bring into + Britain half our food. That we have done this, has been due + to the British Navy and the Reserves—the patrols and + the mine sweepers—the Fringes of the Fleet—and + not least, the merchant seaman. About 6,000 merchantmen have + been killed by the enemy, some with diabolical cruelty. + These men are torpedoed and come into port, and go for + another ship at once. On the ship on which I crossed there + were seamen who had been torpedoed three times In its + submarine warfare the enemy has broken every international + and human law—has used "frightfulness" to its fullest + extent, and the answer of our merchant seamen is to go to + sea again as soon as the ship is ready, and the older men, + who had retired, return to sea. The seaman of our country + know the enemy. It was our Seamen's Union that refused to + carry the Peace Delegates to Stockholm, and it is they and + our fishermen who, in the Reserves, man the patrols and mine + sweepers, <span class="pagenum"><a name="page197" + id="page197"></a>[pg 197]</span> and who, on our little + drifters and trawlers, have fought the enemy's big + destroyers—fought till they went down, refusing to + surrender.</p> + + <p>It is not strange that the best-liked poster in our Food + Crusade, and the one people want everywhere, is a simple + drawing of a merchant seaman, and under it the words, "We risk + our lives to bring you food. It is up to you not to waste + it."</p> + + <p>The countries that can succeed best in solving the food + question are the countries that will win, and the food problem + will not cease, any more than many others, when peace is + declared.</p> + + <p>Very early in the war, existing organizations, such as the + National Food Reform Association, and newly created ones, the + National Food Economy League and the Patriotic Food League of + Scotland, did a great deal of active work on food saving. They + aimed at instructing in the scientific principles of the + economical use of food, and issued admirable leaflets and + Handbooks for Housewives and Cookery Books. A series of + Exhibitions, often described as "Patriotic Housekeeping + <span class="pagenum"><a name="page198" + id="page198"></a>[pg 198]</span> Exhibitions" were held in + different parts of the country, organized generally by + women's societies. One of the early ones I organized in + Salisbury. Later, the Public Trustee was chairman of an + Official Committee, which organized large Exhibitions in + London and throughout the country. These Exhibitions had + stalls showing food values with specimens, had exhibits of + the most economical cooking stoves and arrangements, and + exhibited every manner of time and labour saving device. + They had wonderful exhibits of clothes for children made + from old clothes of grown-ups, of marvellous dresses and + little jerseys and caps and scarfs made from legs of old + stockings. There were charming dresses and underclothing + made of the very simplest materials and decorated + artistically with stitching and embroidery. These were made + by school girls of seven and upwards for themselves, and the + Glasgow School of Art's work, done in schools there, was + perfectly beautiful. The cost was shown and it was + incredibly small. All sorts of things for the household in + simple carpentry <span class="pagenum"><a name="page199" + id="page199"></a>[pg 199]</span> and upholstery, using up + boxes and wood, were shown, and old tins were converted into + all sorts of useful household things. Facts as to waste were + made as striking as possible by demonstration. Every + exhibition had a War Savings Stall and Certificates were + often sold at these in large numbers, the Queen buying the + first sold at the first London Exhibition.</p> + + <p>The great feature of the Exhibitions was Food Saving and + Conservation. Demonstrations in cooking and in hay-box cooking, + were given and these were attended by thousands of women, Miss + Petty, "The Pudding Lady," being a specially attractive + demonstrator. She was called "The Pudding Lady," first by + little children in London in the East End, where she used to go + into the homes, and show them how to cook on their own fires, + and with their own meagre possessions. When she came there was + pudding, so her title came as a result.</p> + + <p>We always included exhibits and posters on the care of the + babies and the children. Lectures + <span class="pagenum"><a name="page200" + id="page200"></a>[pg 200]</span> on vegetable and potato + growing, bee and poultry keeping, etc., were also given.</p> + + <p>There were competitions in connection with the + Exhibitions—prizes were offered for the best + cake—for the best war bread—for the best dinners + for a family at a small cost—for the best weekly budgets + of different small incomes—for the best blouse and dress + made at a small cost, etc., and these were extremely popular. + The prizes were generally War Savings Certificates or + labour-saving devices.</p> + + <p>From the Governmental point of view the Food work is in two + great divisions: Food Production, which is worked by the Food + Production Department of the Board of Agriculture, of which the + Women's Branch is doing the work of placing women on the land. + It not only works on the production of more food but it + organizes the conservation of food, such as fruit bottling, and + preserving fruit, and vegetable and fruit drying, etc.</p> + + <p>A very great deal has been done in demonstrating how to + conserve fruit and vegetables all + <span class="pagenum"><a name="page201" + id="page201"></a>[pg 201]</span> over the country and this + has been done to an extent hitherto quite unreached. + Co-operative work has been done and most interesting + experiments made. The glass bottles necessary have been + secured by the Department, and are sold by them to those + doing the conservation at a fixed price. Last summer the + Sugar Commission also arranged to sell sufficient sugar for + making preserves to those people who grow their own fruit. + This they succeeded in doing to a very large + extent—which was a most valuable conservation.</p> + + <p>The Ministry of Food is the other great body dealing with + all food problems of supply, price, regulations, and + propaganda.</p> + + <p>Lord Rhondda is our Food Controller. Our first Controller + was Lord Devonport. Food control is the most unpopular work in + any country and a Food Controller deserves the help, sympathy + and support of every good citizen. No Food Controller, no + matter how able, and no matter how great and comprehensive his + powers are, can do his work without the co-operation of the + people.</p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page202" + id="page202"></a>[pg 202]</span> + + <p>Lord Rhondda's powers are very great as to control of + supplier prices and regulations. The price of the four pound + loaf (and it must be four pounds) is fixed by our Government at + 18 cents and the loss is borne by the Government.</p> + + <p>The prices of meat, beans, cheese, tea, sugar, milk, and the + profits on other articles are regulated by the Ministry. When + Lord Devonport was Food Controller we had courses at lunch and + dinner limited—a policy most people felt to be stupid as + it meant a run on staple foods—and it was abandoned by + Lord Rhondda. We had meatless days, which also have been + stopped. We found it difficult to do, and impossible to + regulate. We had many potatoless days last spring—by + regulation in the restaurants—perforce by most of us in + towns where they were almost impossible to get, but this year + we have the biggest potato crop we have had.</p> + + <p>In restaurants and hotels now supplies are regulated. No one + can have more than two ounces of bread at any meal, and the + amount of flour and sugar supplied is strictly rationed to + <span class="pagenum"><a name="page203" + id="page203"></a>[pg 203]</span> the hotels, according to + the number served. Not more than five ounces of meat (before + cooking) can be served at any meal. These regulations are + strictly enforced, and the duty of seeing all the + regulations are carried out, and all the work done, devolves + upon the Local Food Control Committees which have been set + up all over the country under the Ministry, by the local + authorities. On every such Committee there must be women. + They fix prices for milk, etc., and initiate prosecutions + for infringements of the laws regulating food.</p> + + <p>No white flour is sold or used in Britain. The mills are all + controlled by the Government and all flour is now war grade, + which means it is made of about 70 per cent white flour and + other grains, rye, corn (which we call maize), barley, + rice-flour, etc., are added. We expect to mill potato flour + this year. Oatmeal has a fixed price, 9 cents a pound, in + Scotland, 10 cents in England. No fancy pastries, no icing on + cakes and no fancy bread may be made. Only two shapes of loaf + are allowed—the tin loaf and the Coburg. + <span class="pagenum"><a name="page204" + id="page204"></a>[pg 204]</span> Cakes must only have 15 per + cent sugar and 30 per cent war grade flour. Buns and scones + and biscuits have regulations as to making, also.</p> + + <p>Butter is very scarce and margarine supplies not always big + enough, and we have tea and sugar and margerine queues in our + big towns—women standing in long rows waiting. It is an + intolerable waste of time—and yet it seems difficult to + get it managed otherwise.</p> + + <p>The woman in the home in our country with high prices, want + of supplies, and her desire to economise has had a busy and + full time, but our people are quite well fed. Naturally enough, + considering the hard work we are all doing, our people are + really using more, not less food, but waste is being fought + very well.</p> + + <p>Waste is a punishable offence and if you throw away bread or + any good food, you will be proceeded against, as many have + been, and fined 40/- to £100. No bread must be sold that is not + twelve hours baked. New bread is extravagant in cutting and + people eat more. It is interesting to note that in one period + of the <span class="pagenum"><a name="page205" + id="page205"></a>[pg 205]</span> Napoleonic wars we did the + same thing and ate no new bread.</p> + + <p>Food hoarding is an offence and the food is commandeered and + the hoarder punished. Several people have been fined £50 and + upwards.</p> + + <p>The work of the Army in economizing food has been a great + work. Rations have been cut down and much more carefully dealt + with. The use of waste products has become a science. All the + fats are saved—even the fats in water used in washing + dishes are trapped and saved. The fats are used to make + glycerine, and last year the Army saved enough waste fat to + make glycerine for 18,000,000 shells. Fats and scraps for pigs, + and bones, etc., are all sold and one-third of the money goes + back to the men's messing funds to buy additional foods and + every camp tries to beat the other in its care and efficiency + and the women cooks are doing admirably in this work.</p> + + <p>Officers of the Navy and Army are only permitted to spend a + certain amount on meals in restaurants and hotels—3/6 for + lunch and 5/6 for dinner and 1/6 for + tea.</p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page206" + id="page206"></a>[pg 206]</span> + + <p>The other side of the Food Campaign is the propaganda and + educative work. Lord Rhondda has two women Co-Directors with + him—Mrs. C.S. Peel and Mrs. M. Pember Reeves—in the + Ministry of Food, and they help in the whole work and very + specially with the educational and propaganda work, and with + the work of communal feeding.</p> + + <p>A number of communal kitchens have been established with + great success—many being in London. At these thousands of + meals are prepared—soups and stews, fish, and meats, and + puddings, every variety of dishes, and the purchasers come to + the kitchens and bring plates and jugs to carry away the food. + Soups are sold from 2 to 4 cents for a jugful, and other things + in proportion. These are established under official + recognition, the Municipalities in most cases providing the + initial cost. The prices paid cover the cost of food and + cooking, and the service is practically all voluntary.</p> + + <p>The first propaganda work was, as I have said, done by the + War Savings Committees, and our + <span class="pagenum"><a name="page207" + id="page207"></a>[pg 207]</span> big task was to try to make + our people realize how undesirable it is to have to resort + to compulsory rationing. We are rationed on sugar and we do + not want to adopt more compulsory rationing than is + necessary. Compulsory rationing, in some people's minds, + seems to ensure supplies. It does not and where, under + voluntary rationing, people go round and find other food and + get along with the supplies there are, under compulsory + rationing there would always be a tendency to demand their + ration and to make trouble about the lack of any one + commodity in it.</p> + + <p>Compulsory rationing to be workable must be a simple scheme, + and no overhead ration of bread, for example, is just. The + needs of workers vary and so do the needs of individuals, and + bread is the staple food of our poorer classes. They have less + variety of foods and need more bread than the better-off + people. Compulsory rationing may have to come, but most of us + are determined it will not come till it is really unavoidable + and we are appealing to our people + <span class="pagenum"><a name="page208" + id="page208"></a>[pg 208]</span> to prevent that, and masses + of them are economizing and saving in a manner worthy of the + greatest praise.</p> + + <p>The rationing we appealed to our people to get down to, was + three pounds of flour per head in the week, 2½ lbs. of meat + and ½ lb. sugar.</p> + + <p>The King's Pledge, which we had signed by those willing to + do this, all over the country, pledged people to cut down their + consumption of grain by one-quarter in the household, and the + King's Proclamation urged this, and economies in grain and + horse feeding.</p> + + <p>An old Proclamation of the 18th century appealed to our + people to cut down their consumption of their grains by + one-third and was almost identical in form, and copies signed + by Edmund Burke and other famous people were shown in our + Thrift Exhibitions in Buckinghamshire.</p> + + <p>We arranged meetings for the maids of households in big + groups to explain the need and meaning of economy in food with + great success. Every head of a household knows that the maids + <span class="pagenum"><a name="page209" + id="page209"></a>[pg 209]</span> can make or mar one's + efforts to save food, and we have found many of ours + admirable, and willing to do wonders in the way of economy + and saving.</p> + + <p>If compulsory rationing in more than sugar comes as it may, + the basis of rationing will, we believe, be worked out with as + much consideration as possible of the needs of the workers.</p> + + <p>Our Co-operative movement is, in a simple way rationing its + buyers, by regulating supplies, and it is in voluntary work of + that kind, which is going on extensively, and in the people's + own efforts and economies that our great hope lies.</p> + + <p>The Ministry of Food arranges meetings and sends speakers to + associations and bodies of every kind. The schools are very + extensively used for demonstrations to which the parents are + invited. The children are talked to and write essays on food + and general saving and in these, one little girl of seven told + us, "If you don't throw away your crusts, you will beat the + Kaiser," and another small boy said, "Boys should give up + <span class="pagenum"><a name="page210" + id="page210"></a>[pg 210]</span> sliding for the war, as it + wears out their boots," and another said, "We should not go + to picture houses so much—once a week is quite often + enough." One little child who had been coached at school + returned home to see a baby sister of two throw away a big + crust and said, "If Lord Rhondda was here, wouldn't he give + you a row." So the root of the matter seems to be in the + youth of our country and the sweetness and willingness of + their sacrifices is very fragrant. They sing about saving + bread and saving pennies, and to hear a choir of Welsh + children sing these songs, with a vigour and enjoyment that + is infectious, is quite delightful.</p> + + <p>Most of our big girls' schools have given up buying sweets, + and when they get gifts of them send them to the prisoners and + the soldiers. We have, of course, restricted our manufacture of + sweets very much.</p> + + <p>Our school children have, in addition, worked enormous + numbers of school gardens and grown tons of potatoes and + vegetables.</p> + + <p>Our distilleries are taken over by the Government + <span class="pagenum"><a name="page211" + id="page211"></a>[pg 211]</span> for spirits for munitions + and our beer is cut down very greatly. Travelling kitchens + go out from the Ministry of Food also and do demonstrations + in villages and country districts on cooking and + conservation. The Ministry issues leaflets of recipes and + instructions in cooking and has a special Win the War + Cookery Book. Articles are also published on food values and + quite a number of people begin to understand something about + calories, even though they are rather vague about what it + all means.</p> + + <p>Naturally most of the Food speaking and work is done by + women though food control and saving is men's and women's + work.</p> + + <p>This year we saved grain by collecting the horse chestnuts, + a work that was done by the school children. These are crushed + and the oil used for munitions and it was reckoned we could + save tens of thousands of tons of grain by doing this.</p> + + <p>A wonderful work in the use of waste materials has been the + work of the Glove Waistcoat Society, to which American women + have kindly <span class="pagenum"><a name="page212" + id="page212"></a>[pg 212]</span> sent old gloves. Old gloves + are cleaned, the fingers are cut off, the other big pieces + stitched together and cut into waistcoats and backed by + linenette. These are sold to the soldiers and sailors for + wear under their tunics and are most beautifully light and + windproof. The fingers of kid gloves are made into glue, of + wash leather gloves into rubbers for household use. The big + pieces of linenette over are made into dust sheets and the + small scraps go to stuff mattresses for a Babies' Home. The + buttons are carded and sold and the making up provides work + for distressed elderly women. It needs no funds—it is + self-supporting—it only needs old gloves.</p> + + <p>In preventing waste and in food production and conservation, + our people have learned much, and a very great deal of + admirable work is being + done.</p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page213" + id="page213"></a>[pg 213]</span> + + <h3>CHAPTER XI</h3> + + <h2>THE WOMEN'S ARMY AUXILIARY CORPS</h2> + + <div class="poem"> + <div class="stanza"> + <p>"Now every signaller was a fine Waac,</p> + + <p>And a very fine Waac was she—e."</p> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <p class="i4">"Soldier and Sailor, too."</p> + </div> + </div><span class="pagenum"><a name="page215" + id="page215"></a>[pg 215]</span> + + <p>The Waacs is the name we all know them by and shall, it + seems, continue to. It will have to go into future dictionaries + beside Anzac.</p> + + <p>The deeds of the Anzacs in Gallipoli and France are + immortalised in many records—magnificently in John + Masefield's "Gallipoli"—an epic in its simplicity. The + work of the Waacs is the work of support and substitution and + its records only begin to be made.</p> + + <p>The Women's Army Auxiliary Corps is an official creation of + this year. At the Women's Service Demonstration in the Albert + Hall in January, 1917, Lord Derby asked for Women for clerical + service in the army and official appeals were issued in + February and repeatedly since that time, and now all over the + country we have Recruiting Committees organizing meetings + <span class="pagenum"><a name="page216" + id="page216"></a>[pg 216]</span> and securing recruits. They + are recruiting at the rate of 10,000 a month.</p> + + <p>The Waacs had many forerunners in some of our voluntary + organizations, in the Women's Reserve Ambulance, of "The Green + Cross Society," attached to the National Motor + Volunteers—the Women's Volunteer Reserve—the + Women's Legion—the Women's Auxiliary Force and the Women + Signallers Territorial Corps. The Women's Signallers Corps had + as Commandant-in-Chief Mrs. E.J. Parker—Lord Kitchener's + sister. They believed women should be trained in every branch + of signalling and that men could be released for the firing + line by women taking over signalling work at fixed stations. + Their prediction came true more than two years later, for today + they are in France. They drilled and trained the women in all + the branches of signalling semaphore—flags, mechanical + arms; and in Morse—flags, airline and cable, sounder + (telegraphy), buzzer, wireless, whistle, lamp and heliograph. + They also learned map reading—the most fascinating of + accomplishments. This <span class="pagenum"><a name="page217" + id="page217"></a>[pg 217]</span> Corps had the distinction + of introducing "wireless" for women in England in connection + with its Headquarters training school. When one of the Corps + later accepted a splendid appointment as wireless instructor + at a wireless telegraph college—the Corps was duly + elated.</p> + + <div class="figright" + style="width:35%;"> + <a href="images/plate228-1.jpg"><img width="100%" + src="images/plate228-1.jpg" + alt="W.A.A.Cs. ON THE MARCH" /></a>W.A.A.Cs. ON THE + MARCH + </div> + + <div class="figright" + style="width:30%;"> + <a href="images/plate228-2.jpg"><img width="100%" + src="images/plate228-2.jpg" + alt="WOMEN OF THE RESERVE AMBULANCE" /></a>WOMEN OF + THE RESERVE AMBULANCE + </div> + + <p>The Women's Reserve Ambulance had the distinction of being + the first ambulance on the scene in the first serious Zeppelin + Raid in London (September, 1915). They came to where the first + bombs fell, killing and wounding, and did the work of rescue, + and when another ambulance arrived later, "Thanks," said the + police, "the ladies have done this job."</p> + + <p>They worked assisting the War Hospital Supply Depots, that + wonderful organization run by Miss MacCaul, they provided + orderlies to serve the meals and act as housemaids, and make + the men welcome at Peel House, one of the Canadian Clubs. + Others helped in Hospitals, washing up and doing other + work.</p> + + <p>Others met and moved wounded—others at night took the + soldiers to the Y.M.C.A. huts. + <span class="pagenum"><a name="page218" + id="page218"></a>[pg 218]</span> The Women's Volunteer + Reserve, too, seemed to be everywhere doing all sorts of + useful, helpful things—disciplined, ready, and + trained. The Women's Legion led the way in providing cooks + and waitresses for camps and sent out 1,200 of these inside + a year. The first convalescent camp to have all its cooking + and serving done by women was managed—admirably, + too—by the Women's Legion, so the Waacs had many + voluntary forerunners, who are mostly in it and amalgamated + with it now.</p> + + <p>The Waacs are a part of the Army organization—are in + His Majesty's Forces and when a girl joins she is subject to + army rules and regulations. They are working now in large + numbers in England and in France, at all the base towns, and in + quiet places, where things that matter are planned and + initiated.</p> + + <p>The girl who goes to France knows she is going to possible + danger by being handed, before she goes, her two identification + discs.</p> + + <p>For France, no woman under twenty or over forty is eligible. + After volunteering, they are + <span class="pagenum"><a name="page219" + id="page219"></a>[pg 219]</span> chosen by Selection Boards + and medically examined. They receive a grant for their + uniforms. The workers wear a khaki coat-frock—a very + sensible garment—brown shoes and soft hat and a great + coat. At the end of a year they get a £5 ($25) bonus on + renewing their contracts, and they get a fortnight's leave + in a year.</p> + + <p>Their payment is not high—it works out about the same + as a soldier's when everything is paid—and that, with us, + is just over 25 cents a day, so the khaki girl, like the + soldier, does not work for the money.</p> + + <p>The whole organization is officered and directed by women. + Mrs. Chalmers Watson, M.D., C.B.E., is the Chief Controller, + with Miss MacQueen as Assistant Chief Controller. Under them + are the Controllers—Area, Recruiting, etc., and the + officer in charge of a unit is called an Administrator, and + under her are deputy administrators and + assistant-administrators. They are not given Military titles + and do not hold commissions, but their appointments are + gazetted in the ordinary way. There is always a strong feeling + <span class="pagenum"><a name="page220" + id="page220"></a>[pg 220]</span> in England that Military + and Naval titles should be strictly reserved.</p> + + <p>The equivalent of a sergeant is a "forewoman," and there are + quartermistresses in charge of stores. Rank is shown as among + the men, by badges, rose and fleur-de-lys.</p> + + <p>Administrators are being trained in large numbers. They have + a short course of drilling, learn to fill up Army forms, make + out pay sheets, how to requisition for rations, catering + generally, and how to run a hostel. They also attend practical + lectures on hygiene and sanitation. When this is done, they go + to camp for a fortnight's training under an administrator in + actual charge of a Unit. If they have not done well in this + course, they are not appointed.</p> + + <p>An administrator receives a $100 grant for her uniform and + is paid from $600 to $875 a year out of which $200 is deducted + for food. There is generally one officer to every fifty + women.</p> + + <p>The administrator must drill her girls. The W.A.A.C. is + proud of its tone and its discipline. Its officers make the + girls feel much is expected + <span class="pagenum"><a name="page221" + id="page221"></a>[pg 221]</span> of them, because of the + uniform they wear, and the girls have made a fine response. + There are very few rules and as little restraint as + possible. The girls are put on their honour when not under + supervision. The administrator has considerable disciplinary + powers, but they are very little needed.</p> + + <p>It does not seem to be by discipline that the officer + succeeds best. There is a nice story told of an Administrator + who had been away from her unit some days, returning and being + met at the station by one of the rank and file who had come for + her bag.</p> + + <p>"I <i>am</i> glad to see you, Ma'am," was the greeting, so + emphatic a one that the Administrator inquired nervously if + something were wrong.</p> + + <p>"Oh, no. Seems as if Mother had been away, Ma'am," explained + the girl.</p> + + <p>The Administrator can help her girls by sorting them out + well, putting friends and the same kind of girls together; it + makes so much difference.</p> + + <p>The Administrator has not only to handle her + <span class="pagenum"><a name="page222" + id="page222"></a>[pg 222]</span> own sex—she has to + deal with men officers and quartermasters, and she succeeds + in doing that well, too.</p> + + <p>Our Administrators are naturally women of education and + carefully chosen and there is plenty of opportunity of rising + "from the ranks."</p> + + <p>The girls cross over to France on the gray transports, are + received by the women Draft Receiving Officers, and go up the + lines to their assigned posts.</p> + + <p>The women are billeted in some of the base towns in pensions + and summer hotels that have been commandeered, in big houses + and in one case in a beautiful old Chateau where the ghosts of + dead-and-gone ladies of beauty and fashion must wonder what + kind of women these khaki clad girls are. The girls in these + make their rooms home-like with photographs, hangings, and + little personal belongings.</p> + + <p>The greater number of girls live in camps, and different + types of huts have been tried. Some of the camps are entirely + of wooden huts—large and roomy. Other camps have the + Nissen hut <span class="pagenum"><a name="page223" + id="page223"></a>[pg 223]</span> of corrugated iron, lined + with laths wood floored and raised from the ground. These + have been linked together in the cleverest way by covered + ways. In the sleeping huts the beds are iron bedsteads with + springs and horse-hair mattresses. Each bed has four + thoroughly good blankets and a pillow. No sheets are + given—there is no labour to wash the thousands of + sheets, and the cotton is needed. Each woman has a wooden + locker with a shelf above, and a chair. Washing and bathing + is done in separate huts, and in every camp hot and cold + water is laid on.</p> + + <p>The mess room is a big hut. The girls wait on themselves and + the food is excellent. They receive in rations the same as the + soldiers on lines of communication—four-fifths of a + fighting man's ration and whatever is over is returned and + credited, and the extra money is used for luxuries, games and + for entertaining visitors from other camps.</p> + + <p>Here is a typical week's meals and it shows how well they + are fed:</p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page224" + id="page224"></a>[pg 224]</span> + + <blockquote> + <p>MONDAY.—Breakfast: Tea, bread, butter, baked + mince, jam. Dinner: Cold beef, potatoes, tomatoes, baked + apples, custard. Tea: Tea, bread, butter, jam. Supper: + Welsh rarebit, bread, butter, jam.</p> + + <p>TUESDAY.—Breakfast: Tea, bread, butter, boiled + ham, marmalade. Dinner: brown onion stew, potatoes, baked + beans, biscuit pudding. Tea: Tea, bread, butter, jam, + cheese. Supper: Savoury rice, tea, bread.</p> + + <p>WEDNESDAY.—Breakfast: Tea, bread, butter, veal + loaf. Dinner: Roast mutton, potatoes, marrow, bread + pudding. Tea: Tea, bread, butter, marmalade, jam. Supper: + Rissoles, bread, butter, cheese.</p> + + <p>THURSDAY.—Breakfast: Tea, bread, butter, fried + bacon. Dinner: Meat pie, potatoes, cabbage, custard and + rice. Tea: Tea, bread, butter, jam. Supper: Soup, bread and + jam.</p> + + <p>FRIDAY.—Breakfast: Tea, bread, butter, rissoles, + marmalade. Dinner: Boiled beef, potatoes and onions, Dundee + roll. Tea: tea, bread, butter, jam, slab cake. Supper: + Shepherd's pie, tea, bread, butter.</p> + + <p>SATURDAY.—Breakfast: Tea, bread, butter, boiled + ham, jam. Dinner: Thick brown stew, potatoes + <span class="pagenum"><a name="page225" + id="page225"></a>[pg 225]</span> and cabbage, bread + pudding. Tea: Tea, bread, butter, jam, cheese. Supper: + Toad-in-hole, bread jam.</p> + + <p>SUNDAY.—Breakfast: Tea, bread, butter, fried + bacon. Dinner: Roast beef, potatoes and cabbage, stewed + fruit, custard. Tea: Tea, bread, butter, jam. Supper: Soup, + bread, butter, cheese.</p> + </blockquote> + + <p>They are divided into five big classes for work. There are + large numbers of them cooks and waitresses, and many of these + cooks come from the best private houses in England, so the + Waacs and the soldiers fare well. In one camp in the early days + sixty women cooks walked in and sixty men out, released for the + fighting lines. The saving in fats done by the women is very + great and their economies admirable and the women are + waitresses in the camps and messes.</p> + + <p>In one base in France when twenty-nine cooks came to take + charge in the early days the commanding officer issued an order + that expresses very well the spirit in which the women are + regarded.</p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page226" + id="page226"></a>[pg 226]</span> + + <h4>BASE DEPOT.</h4> + + <blockquote> + <p>The Officer Commanding Base Depot wishes to draw the + attention of all ranks to the following points in + connection with the Domestic Section of the Women's + Auxiliary Army, which is employed in this depot:</p> + + <p>These women have not come out for the sake of money, as + their pay is that of a private soldier. In nearly every + case they have lost someone dear to them in this war, and + they are out here to try to do their best to make things + more comfortable for the men in regard to their food.</p> + + <p>It, therefore, is up to all ranks to make their lot an + easy and not a hard one during their stay in France. If any + man should so forget himself as to use bad language or at + any time to be rude to them, it is up to any of his + comrades standing by to shut him up, and see that he does + not repeat this offence.</p> + + <p>To the older men I would say: Treat them as you would + your own daughters. To the younger men: Treat them as you + would your own sisters.</p> + </blockquote> + + <p class="author">——, Comdg., Base + Depot.</p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page227" + id="page227"></a>[pg 227]</span> + + <p>They are doing the clerical work more and more, and in a few + weeks have become so technical that they know where to send + requisitions concerning 9.2 guns or trench mortars or giant + howitzers. There is a favourite story told against an early + Waac that when a demand came for armoured hose, she sent it to + the clothing department, but she knows better now.</p> + + <p>French girls are also helping in the clerical department, + working side by side with the Waacs.</p> + + <p>Others, the telegraphists and telephonists are in the + Signalling Corps and these are the only ones who wear Army + badges. They work under the Officers Commanding Signals and are + so successful that the officers want thousands more.</p> + + <p>Another small group are called the "Hush Waacs." There are + only about a dozen of them and they have come from the Censor's + Office and between them have a thorough knowledge of all modern + languages. They are decoding signalled and written messages, + script of every + kind.</p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page228" + id="page228"></a>[pg 228]</span> + + <p>Numbers more are motor car and transport drivers working + with A.S.C.</p> + + <p>An intensely interesting piece of work at the front in which + the Waacs now are, and in which French women have worked for a + very long time, and are still working in large numbers, is the + great "Salvage" work of the Army. In the Salvage centre at one + ordnance base 30,000 boots are repaired in a week. They are + divided into three classes—those that can be used again + by the men at the front—those for men on the lines of + communication—those for prisoners and coloured labour, + and uppers that are quite useless are cut up into laces. They + salve old helmets, old web and leather equipments, haversacks, + rifles, horse shoes, spurs, and every conceivable kind of + battlefield debris.</p> + + <p>The work of repair and of renewal of clothing, which goes + over to England to be dealt with, is a wonder of economy.</p> + + <p>The women are helping in postal work and we handle about + three million letters and packets a day in France for our Army + there.</p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page229" + id="page229"></a>[pg 229]</span> + + <p>One other piece of work that falls to trained women + gardeners in the Corps, is the care of the graves in France. + There are so many graves in little clusters, lonely by the + roadside, and in great cemeteries. They mark them clearly and + they make them more beautiful with flowers. No work they have + come to do, is done more faithfully than this act of reverence + to our heroic and honoured dead.</p> + + <p>The Y.W.C.A.'s Blue Triangle is going to be the same symbol + for the Waacs as the Red Triangle for the Soldiers. They are + building huts everywhere in France and in England, and the + girls like them as much as the men do.</p> + + <p>In these recreation huts the girls enjoy themselves and + there are evenings when the soldier friends come in, too, and + have a good time with them, for Waacs and the soldiers know + each other and meet at all the Bases and Camps.</p> + + <p>They dance and play games, and act, or sing, or come and + talk, and one visitor tells us of seeing a girl doing machining + at the end of a hut <span class="pagenum"><a name="page230" + id="page230"></a>[pg 230]</span> with one soldier turning + the handle for her and another helping.</p> + + <p>One evening at a dance some gallant Australian N.C.O.'s + arrived carrying two enormous pans of a famous salad, that was + their specialty, as their contribution to the provisions. So + life in the Waacs is not all work—there is play, too, + wisely. Every camp has a trained V.A.D. worker to look after + the girls in case of sickness. If the case is bad they are sent + over to Endell Street Hospital in London.</p> + + <p>The Navy is going to follow the Army—so our women will + be "Soldier and Sailor too," and we shall have to sing, "Till + the girls come home," as well.</p> + + <p>The Admiralty has decided to employ women on various duties + on shore hitherto done by naval ratings, and to establish a + Women's Royal Naval Service. The women will have a distinctive + uniform and the service will be confined to women employed on + definite duties directly connected with the Royal Navy. It is + not intended at present to include those serving in the + Admiralty <span class="pagenum"><a name="page231" + id="page231"></a>[pg 231]</span> departments or the Royal + Dockyards or other civil establishments under the Admiralty. + There are thousands of women in these already, as there were + in Army pay offices, etc., before the Waacs were formed.</p> + + <p>Dame Katherine Furse, G.B.E., will be Director of the + Women's Royal Naval Service, and will be responsible under the + Second Sea Lord, for its administration and organization.</p> + + <p>Already we hear they are likely to be known as the "Wrens." + And so our women are inside the organized forces of defence of + our Country—the last line of usefulness and + service.</p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page233" + id="page233"></a>[pg 233]</span> + + <h3>CHAPTER XII</h3> + + <h2>THE WAR AND MORALS</h2> + + <blockquote> + <p>"Evils which have been allowed to flourish for centuries + cannot be destroyed in a day. If the nation really wishes + to be freed from the consequences of prostitution it must + deal with the sources of prostitution by a long series of + social, educational, and economic reforms. The ultimate + remedy is the acceptance of a single standard of morality + for men and women, and the recognition that man is meant to + be the master and not the slave of his body. There are + thousands of men both in the army and out of it who know + this, and for whom the streets of London have no + dangers."</p> + </blockquote> + + <p class="author">—Dr. HELEN + WILSON.</p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page235" + id="page235"></a>[pg 235]</span> + + <p>The unprecedented state of things produced by the war + brought in its train serious anxiety as to moral conditions, + not only in regard to the relation between the sexes but in + other ways. The gathering of every kind of man together in + camps creates great problems. Young boys, who had never been + away from home before, who know very little of the world or of + temptations, were often flung in with very undesirable + companions. There were many risks and many hard tests and the + parents who see their young boys go to camp without preparing + them, or warning them, do their boys a great disservice and I + have known of sons who bore in their hearts a feeling of having + been badly treated by their parents, that would never die, for + being sent without a word of counsel into these things.</p> + + <p>It is not only actions—corrupt thoughts are the most + evil of all—and to help to give our boys + <span class="pagenum"><a name="page236" + id="page236"></a>[pg 236]</span> the greatest possession, + moral courage, founded on knowledge, is our finest gift.</p> + + <p>There were temptations to think less cleanly, to hear things + said without protest and to say them later. There were drinking + temptations and one used to wonder with a sick heart, what + mothers would feel if they could see these young boys of theirs + sometimes, so pathetically young and so foolish. There was also + in these great camps of men—let us realize that quite + clearly—great good for the boys and the men—good + that far outweighs the evil. All the good of discipline, all + they gained by their coming together for a great cause, all + they gained in that great comradeship and service for each + other, and in their self-sacrifice for their country and the + world. The wonder and beauty of what it is, and means some of + our own men have told us—among them one who died, Donald + Hankey, and has left us a rich treasure in his works. And we + all know it in our own men—that abiding spirit that is + the vision without which the people perish.</p> + + <p>But there are and were evils to fight and men + <span class="pagenum"><a name="page237" + id="page237"></a>[pg 237]</span> and women to help. The huts + and canteens and guesthouses are great agencies for + good—as well as for comfort. Loneliness, and nowhere + to go, and no one to talk to, are conditions that make for + mischief.</p> + + <p>Then there were the girls at the outbreak of the war, + excited by all that was happening, not yet busy as they nearly + all are now, feeling that the greatest thing was to know the + soldiers and talk and walk with them, and flocking around camps + and barracks, being foolish and risking worse.</p> + + <p>The National Union of Women Workers decided to take action + about this and drew up a scheme which they submitted to the + Chief Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police, Sir Edward + Henry, K.C.V.O. This scheme was for women of experience and + knowledge of girls to patrol in the camps and barrack areas, + and talk to girls who were behaving foolishly, and try to + influence them for good. It was felt and it turned out to be + quite accurate that the mere presence of these women would make + girls and men behave better. + <span class="pagenum"><a name="page238" + id="page238"></a>[pg 238]</span> Sir Edward Henry approved + of the idea and arranged that each Patrol should have a card + signed by him to be carried while on duty, authorizing the + Patrols to seek and get the assistance of the Police, if + necessary, and the Patrols wore an armlet with badge and + number.</p> + + <p>Their work in London proved so successful that the Home + Office recommended the adoption of the scheme in provincial + centres, where the Chief Constables authorized them and later + the War Office asked for more Patrols in some of the camp areas + and spoke very highly of their work.</p> + + <p>A woman Patrol is generally a woman who is busy in her own + home or profession all day, but who gives some hours one or two + evenings a week to this work.</p> + + <p>They have done the work faithfully and well, and have + exceeded in their success all anticipations. There are about + 3,000 Patrols in the Kingdom; of these eighty-five are engaged + in special work in London and paid by the Commissioner of + Police. Two are engaged in work at Woolwich Arsenal. Two are + Park Keepers <span class="pagenum"><a name="page239" + id="page239"></a>[pg 239]</span> appointed by the Board of + Works and are working in Kensington Gardens, and their names + were submitted to the King before appointment. They have the + power of arrest.</p> + + <p>A subsidy has been granted to the Women's Patrol Committee + for the training of Women Patrols of £400 a year. In many big + towns admirable work has been done.</p> + + <p>In Edinburgh the Patrol Committee was asked by H.M. Office + of Works to help the men park keepers in keeping order in the + King's Park.</p> + + <p>This they have done with great success. Dublin has just + taken over two women Patrols as paid workers.</p> + + <p>The Military, Admiralty, Police, and Civil Authorities have + all united in praising their work and any one can realize how + much patience and tact and knowledge it calls for, and what it + means to have had it done for over three years. The patrols + have not been content only to talk to the girls, though it is + wonderful what that alone can do. They have succeeded in + getting them to come to clubs and they have worked in + <span class="pagenum"><a name="page240" + id="page240"></a>[pg 240]</span> connection with the mixed + clubs of which we have several very successful ones. A mixed + club is very useful and helpful, but it must be well run by + a good committee of men and women, and you need people of + judgment and knowledge and tactful firmness in charge of it, + if it is to be the best kind of club.</p> + + <p>We have found an admirable thing is to have evenings for men + friends in the Girls' Clubs when the girls can invite their men + friends in, and have music and games and entertainment.</p> + + <p>When Patrols were started, there was a very strong feeling + that there ought to be women police, a much needed change in + our country. We had none when war broke out, but in September, + 1914, Miss Darner Dawson founded the Women Police Service. When + members joined they were trained in drill, first aid, practical + instructions in Police Duties, gained by actual work in + streets, parks, etc. They studied special acts relating to + women and children and civil and criminal law and the procedure + and rules of evidence in Police + Courts.</p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page241" + id="page241"></a>[pg 241]</span> + + <p>Their first work was done in Grantham where, in November, + 1914, the Women's Central Committee of Grantham elected a Women + Police Subcommittee to provide a fund for the payment of two + Police Women to work with the Chief Constable. In February the + following letter was written about their work:</p> + + <blockquote> + <p>"To the Chief Officer, Women Police,—I understand + that there is some idea of removing the two members of the + Women Police now stationed here. I trust that this is not + the case. The services of the two ladies in question have + proved of great value. They have removed sources of trouble + to the troops in a manner that the Military Police could + not attempt. Moreover, I have no doubt whatever that the + work of these two ladies in an official capacity is a great + safeguard to the moral welfare of young girls in the + town.</p> + </blockquote> + + <p class="author">(Signed) "F. HAMMERSLEY, M.G.,<br /> + Commanding 11th Division,<br /> + Grantham."</p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page242" + id="page242"></a>[pg 242]</span> + + <p>and in November, 1915, they were made official Police by the + City Council. In July, 1916, the Police Miscellaneous + Provisions Act was passed, which encouraged the employment of + Policewomen by stating that pay of the police "shall be deemed + to include the pay of any women who may be employed by a Police + Authority," etc.</p> + + <p>Now there are thirty-four Policewomen in our Boroughs, but + their position is still anomalous and unsatisfactory, as they + do not come under the Police Act for purposes of discipline, + pay, pensions, and compensation, but this will come. Meantime + the Women Police Service goes on doing its admirable work of + training and providing Volunteer and Semi-official police + (supported by women's funds), in addition to those appointed by + local authorities in Boroughs.</p> + + <p>These semi-official police women are able to do a great + deal, if the Chief Constable is friendly, and, naturally, they + are appointed where he is so. They are often made Probation + Officers and are used for children's and girl's and women's + cases. Their work leads more and more to the official + <span class="pagenum"><a name="page243" + id="page243"></a>[pg 243]</span> appointments and in this + work as in so many of our successes, we women have achieved + the results by having the voluntary organizations and + training ourselves first and proving our fitness.</p> + + <p>From my own experience, it is impossible to speak too highly + of the kindness and willingness of many Chief Constables to do + everything to teach and help the women.</p> + + <p>The Women Police Service naturally insists on a high + standard of training and this has been of great value.</p> + + <p>A big development of women police work has been in the + Munition factories where now about 700 women are employed in + this capacity in England, Scotland and Wales.</p> + + <p>The report of the Women's Police Service gives the following + interesting account.</p> + + <p>"In 1916 the Department Explosives Supply of the Ministry of + Munitions applied to Sir Edward Henry for a force of Women + Police to act as guards for certain of H.M. Factories. Sir + Edward Henry sent for the two chief officers of the Women + Police Service, and informed them + <span class="pagenum"><a name="page244" + id="page244"></a>[pg 244]</span> that it was his intention + to recommend them to the Ministry of Munitions for the + supplying of the Women Police required. They thanked the + Commissioner for his expression of trust in their + capabilities, and in July an agreement was drawn up between + the Minister of Munitions and the Chief Officer and Chief + Superintendent of the Women Police Service, who were + appointed to act as the Minister's representatives for the + 'training, supplying and controlling' of the Force required. + The duties of the Policewomen were to include checking the + entry of women into the factory, examining passports, + searching for contraband, namely, matches, cigarettes and + alcohol; dealing with complaints of petty offences; + patrolling the neighbourhood for the protection of women + going home from work; accompanying the women to and fro in + the workmen's trains to the neighbouring towns where they + lodge; appearing in necessary cases at the Police Court, and + assisting the magistrates in dealing with such cases, if + required to. The Force for each factory was to consist of an + inspector, sergeants <span class="pagenum"><a name="page245" + id="page245"></a>[pg 245]</span> and constables. Women to be + trained for this work were at once enrolled by the Women + Police Service and trained under a Staff of Officers.</p> + + <p>"Since the inauguration of factory-police work for women in + July, 1916, a marked success has attended the organisation, + which has resulted in almost daily applications for Policewomen + for factories situated in every part of the United Kingdom. We + are not able to give a list of these factories nor to mention + their names in our report of the work carried on by them, but + we may say that at the present time we are supplying H.M. + Factories, National Filling Factories and Private Controlled + Factories. We are sure that our patrons and subscribers will + feel as proud as we are of the intrepid Policewomen who for the + past fourteen months have been carrying out these duties, + which, we believe, no women have hitherto dreamt of + undertaking, and which have called forth qualities of tact, + discretion, cool courage and endurance that would compare well + with any of those whom we call heroes in the fight at the + front. We would call attention to + <span class="pagenum"><a name="page246" + id="page246"></a>[pg 246]</span> one factory from which both + the military and male Police Guard has been withdrawn. The + factory employs several thousand women in the manufacture + and disposal of some of the most dangerous explosives + demanded by the war. When an air raid is in progress the + operatives are cleared from the factory and the sheds and + magazines are left to the sole charge of the Firemen and + Policewomen, who take up the respective posts allotted to + them. The Policewomen who guard the various magazines know + that they hold their lives in their hands. We are proud to + report that not one woman has failed at her post or shirked + her duty in the hour of danger. The duties assigned to the + Policewomen and their officers in these factories have + increased considerably in scope during the past year. In one + factory the force of Policewomen numbers 160 under one Chief + Inspector, two Inspectors and twelve Sergeants, all of whom + have been sworn in and take entire charge of all police + cases dealing with women. They arrest, convey the prisoners + to the Women Police Charge Station, keep + <span class="pagenum"><a name="page247" + id="page247"></a>[pg 247]</span> their own charge sheets and + other official documents, lock the prisoner in the cells, + keep guard over her, convey her to the Court House for + trial, and if convicted convey her to the prison. A short + time ago the Inspector of Policewomen in one of H.M. + Factories was instructed by the authorities to send a + Policewoman to a distant town to fetch a woman prisoner, an + old offender. The Policewoman was armed with a warrant, + railway vouchers and handcuffs. The prisoner was handed over + to the Policewoman by the Policeman, and the Policewoman and + her charge returned without trouble. The prisoner expressed + her relief and gratitude at being escorted by a Policewoman, + and behaved well throughout the journey. The Policewoman + reported that she was given every courtesy and assistance by + both police and railway officials.</p> + + <div class="figright" + style="width:30%;"> + <a href="images/plate259.jpg"><img width="100%" + src="images/plate259.jpg" + alt="POLICE WOMEN" /></a>POLICE WOMEN + </div> + + <p>"We believe this constitutes the first time in history that + women guards have been entrusted with the care and custody of + their fellow-women when charged with breaking the + law."</p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page248" + id="page248"></a>[pg 248]</span> + + <p>Other pieces of important and difficult work have been + undertaken by women.</p> + + <p>There have been, unfortunately, cases in which the soldier's + wife, left at home, has behaved badly and been unfaithful. Men + often write from the trenches to the Chief Constable to ask if + charges made to them in letters about their wives are true. + Naturally the Chief Constable asks the women to investigate + these charges. Sometimes the charges are quite unfounded, + simply spiteful and malicious and the woman and Chief Constable + write and say so.</p> + + <p>In other cases the husband knows of unfaithfulness and + writes to the Army Pay Office asking to have the allowance + stopped to his wife. The Army Pay Office never acts on any such + letter without securing a report from the Chief Constable, and + again the woman is needed, and there is frequently the question + of the children as well. Their allowance, of course, never + ceases but they may go to some relative or be disposed of in + some way.</p> + + <p>These cases are infinitesimal in + number.</p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page249" + id="page249"></a>[pg 249]</span> + + <p>After the outbreak of the war there were many scares. Every + one in our country knows now how a myth is established. We have + left the stage behind where people told you they knew, from a + friend, who knew a friend who knew some one else who saw it, + who was in the War Office, etc., etc., etc.—that England + was invaded—that the Navy was all down—or the + German Navy was all down—that we were going to do this, + that, or the other impossible thing.</p> + + <p>Dame Rumour had a joyous time in the early days of the war + and we suffered from the people who were not only quite certain + that everything was wrong morally, but told us that the + illegitimate birth rate was going to be enormous. Their + accusations against our ordinary girls were monstrous. There + was some excitement and foolishness, but anybody who was really + working and dealing with it as the Patrol were, knew the + accusations were ridiculous. The illegitimate birth rate of our + country is lower than before, which is the best reply to, and + the vindication <span class="pagenum"><a name="page250" + id="page250"></a>[pg 250]</span> of the men of our armies + and our girls against, these absurd attacks.</p> + + <p>Another scare was about the drinking of women. Soldiers' + wives were attacked in this connection and the same kind of + wild accusation made, so much so that a committee was appointed + to go into the whole question (1915), presided over by Mrs. + Creighton, President of the National Union of Women + Workers.</p> + + <p>In my experience a great deal of this talk was caused by the + fact that many women, who had never done social work, and who + knew nothing of real conditions, started to go among the people + and were shocked and overwhelmed by what were unfortunately + normal wrong conditions, and lost all sense of perspective. + Some women did drink—true—but I found they were + generally the women who always had done it, and who perhaps in + some cases, having more money of their own and no husbands to + deal with, drank a little more.</p> + + <p>The findings of the Committee showed this clearly and they + made some recommendations, especially recommending that the + Central Board <span class="pagenum"><a name="page251" + id="page251"></a>[pg 251]</span> for the Control of the + Liquor Traffic proceeded to do on its creation, restriction + of hours of sale. Our restrictions make the sale of liquor + legal only from 12 noon to 2.30 and from 6.30 to 8.30 or 9 + P.M. Our convictions for drunkenness for women have fallen + very low and for men, too. There is very much less drinking + in our country and things are very much improved.</p> + + <p>These attacks on soldiers' wives were naturally much + resented as their work in the homes and industries, with their + men away, and all their difficulties, has not always been easy. + We find there is a little more difficulty with the boys. They + miss the fathers' discipline and there has been some trouble + through that, but such magnificent agencies as the Boy Scouts, + who have helped us everywhere in the war, do great good.</p> + + <p>The problem of dealing with the prevention of immorality has + been a big one. The Women Patrols and the Women Police have + been used in London in Waterloo Road (which had a bad + reputation) and in parks, etc. The G.R. Volunteer Corps of men + who meet the soldier arriving + <span class="pagenum"><a name="page252" + id="page252"></a>[pg 252]</span> in London at the stations + do a very good work.</p> + + <p>In the Army and Navy excellent leaflets and booklets were + issued dealing with the question in a very straightforward and + admirable way.</p> + + <p>The Council for Moral and Social Hygiene and the National + Council for Combating Venereal Diseases has been doing a great + work. The latter, which is a body set up as a result of the + Government Commission on Venereal Diseases, had done a great + deal of educational work and has set up an organization over + the country. The Commission recommended much fuller facilities + for free treatment for those suffering from these diseases in + every town and district.</p> + + <p>A Criminal Law Amendment Bill has been brought in and it + improves our existing law in many ways and strengthens it. + There has been much controversy about certain of its + provisions, some dealing with power to send young girls to + homes. There is a very strong feeling among many of our social + workers that Rescue Work in our country altogether needs + overhauling and change, and new experiments are being + tried.</p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page253" + id="page253"></a>[pg 253]</span> + + <p>Wars have almost invariably in the past meant an enormous + increase in venereal diseases on the return of the army in the + civil population. Armies lose large numbers of men by them, and + every person must feel it is their plain duty to leave no means + untried and no measures unused that could help.</p> + + <p>The woman who lives by her immoral earnings is, like the man + who is immoral and uncontrolled, a serious danger and menace to + her country and to generations yet unborn.</p> + + <p>The problems that arise from the existence of these two + groups are the business of all men and women. The problems are + those of providing decent and wholesome recreation and + surroundings, of helping men and women to meet under right + conditions, of giving the right kind of information and + guidance to the soldier and the girl, of realizing what drink + does in this traffic, and the fundamental task of working to + create better social, economic and moral conditions.</p> + + <p>There is no need nor is it desirable to have masses of + people suffer unnecessary misery by a + <span class="pagenum"><a name="page254" + id="page254"></a>[pg 254]</span> knowledge of the exact + nature of this disease—which leads sometimes to + morbidity and often to a frenzied desire to do something at + once, before they really know anything about the question + and what has been done.</p> + + <p>There are three questions that ought to be answered in the + affirmative before any legislation or preventive treatment is + decided on.</p> + + <p>Will the proposed action apply equally to men and to women, + to rich and to poor?</p> + + <p>Will it tend to increase and not undermine the powers of + self-control?</p> + + <p>Will it improve morals in the nation and elevate them?</p> + + <p>Repressive measures by themselves achieve nothing. + Preventive measures of every practical and sound kind we want, + but most of all we need to inculcate the truth that + "Self-reverence, self-knowledge, self-control, These three + alone lead man to sovereign power."</p> + + <p>It is not enough to prevent and teach. We + <span class="pagenum"><a name="page255" + id="page255"></a>[pg 255]</span> should be willing to help + up, to save, to love, and we should never be self-righteous + in our help.</p> + + <p>Who among us has the right to cast the first + stone?</p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page257" + id="page257"></a>[pg 257]</span> + + <h3>CHAPTER XIII</h3> + + <h2>WHAT THE WAR HAS DONE FOR WOMEN</h2> + + <blockquote> + <p>"Give her of the fruits of her lands and let her own + words praise her in the gates."</p> + </blockquote> + + <p class="author">—PROV., Chap + 31.</p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page259" + id="page259"></a>[pg 259]</span> + + <p>The war has done already, with us, such great things for + women, so many of them so naturally accepted now, that it is + almost difficult to get back in thought, and realize where we + stood when it broke out.</p> + + <p>General Smuts, in one of his speeches, said, "Under stress + of great difficulty practically everything breaks down + ultimately, and the only things that survive are really the + simple human feelings of loyalty and comradeship to your + fellows, and patriotism, which can stand any strain and bear + you through all difficulty and privation. We soldiers know the + extraordinary value of these simple feelings, how far they go + and what strain they can bear, and how, ultimately, they + support the whole weight of civilization."</p> + + <p>In this war our men, in their dealings with us, have got + down more and more to simple fundamental + <span class="pagenum"><a name="page260" + id="page260"></a>[pg 260]</span> truths and + facts—loyalty and comradeship, founded on our common + patriotism. We have got nearer and nearer to the ideal so + many of us long for, equal right to serve and help. The + great fundamental establishment of political rights for + women has come with us. When war broke out, women's suffrage + was winning all the time a greater and greater mass of + adherents, a majority of the House was pledged to vote for + it and had been for years, the Trade Unions and Labour Party + stood solid for it, but the motive to act seemed + lacking.</p> + + <p>War came, and every political party in our country laid + aside political agitation. No party meetings have been held + since August, 1914. Suffragists and anti-suffragists did the + same. The great body of constitutional suffragists kept their + organization intact but used it for "sustaining the vital + energies of the nation." Relief Work, Hospital Work and + Supplies, Child Welfare, Comforts, Workrooms, help for + professional women, work for Belgian refugees, work in canteens + and huts, work for the Soldiers and Sailors + <span class="pagenum"><a name="page261" + id="page261"></a>[pg 261]</span> Families' Association, + Schools for Mothers, Girls' Clubs—into everything the + Suffrage societies fling themselves with ardour, zeal and + ability. No women knew better how to organize, no women + better how to educate and win help. They formed an admirable + Women's Interests Committee, and looked after all women's + interests excellently.</p> + + <p>When the Government issued its first appeal for women + volunteers for munitions and land, etc., it asked the Suffrage + societies to circulate them and to help them to secure the + needed labour from women.</p> + + <p>As the war went on it became clearer and clearer that the + men of the country saw more and more vividly why suffragists + had asked for votes—and more and more were impressed with + the value of their work. At meetings to do propaganda for + Government appeals, when women spoke on the needs of the + country, men everywhere, although it had nothing to do with the + appeal, and had never been mentioned, declared + <span class="pagenum"><a name="page262" + id="page262"></a>[pg 262]</span> their conversion to Women's + Suffrage in the War.</p> + + <p>Women pointed out that they did not want Women's Suffrage as + a reward—but as a simple right. They had not worked for a + reward, but for their country, as any citizen would, but, in + our country, the great converting power is practical proof of + value and they had that overwhelmingly in our work. The Press + came out practically solidly for Women's Suffrage. The work of + women was praised in every paper and one declared, "It cannot + be tolerable that we should return to the old struggle about + admitting them to the franchise." Eminent Anti-Suffragists, + inside and outside of the House of Commons, frankly admitted + their conversion. Mr. Asquith, the old enemy of Women's + Suffrage, said in a memorable speech: "They presented to me not + only a reasonable, but, I think, from their point of view, an + unanswerable case.... They say that when the war comes to an + end, and when the process of industrial reconstruction has to + be set on foot, have not the women a special + <span class="pagenum"><a name="page263" + id="page263"></a>[pg 263]</span> claim to be heard on the + many questions which will arise directly affecting their + interests, and possibly meaning for them large displacement + of labour? I cannot think that the House will deny that, + and, I say quite frankly, that I cannot deny that claim." It + was clear the whole question of franchise would need to be + gone into—the soldiers' vote was lost to him under our + system when he was away, and the sailors' redistribution was + long overdue, an election, as things were, would be + absolutely unrepresentative. So after several attempts to + deal with the problem in sections, a Committee was set up + under the Speaker of the House of Commons to go into the + whole question of Franchise reform and registration.</p> + + <p>The Committee was composed of five Peers and twenty-seven + members of the House of Commons, and started its work in + October, 1916, and in its report, April, 1917, it recommended, + by a majority, that a measure of enfranchisement should be + given to women.</p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page264" + id="page264"></a>[pg 264]</span> + + <p>The National Union of Women's Suffrage Societies and the + Consultative Committee, which had been formed in 1916 by the + N.U.W.S.S., of representatives of all constitutional societies, + presented various memorials, notably an admirable memorandum of + women's work and opinion in favour, prepared by the National + Union for the Speakers' Conference during its sittings. After + its recommendations while the bill was being drafted, Mrs. + Henry Fawcett, LL.D., the President of the N.U.W.S.S., headed a + deputation received by the Premier, Mr. Lloyd George, who has + always been a supporter of Women's Suffrage. This was certainly + one of the most representative and interesting deputations that + ever went to Downing Street. It numbered over fifty and every + woman in it represented a great section of industrial and war + workers—Miss Mary MacArthur, the Trade Union Leader was + there, and Miss Margaret Bondfield, Mrs. Flora Annie Steele, + the authoress; Lady Forbes Robertson, for actresses; Miss + Adelaide Anderson, our Chief Women Factory Inspector; Mrs. + Oliver <span class="pagenum"><a name="page265" + id="page265"></a>[pg 265]</span> Strachey, Parliamentary + Honourable Secretary of the National Union, whose work has + been tireless and invaluable in the House; a woman munition + worker, a woman conductor, a railway woman worker, a woman + chemist, a woman from a bank, a clerk, a shipyard worker, a + nurse, a V.A.D., an eminent woman Doctor, a peeress in Lady + Cowdray, who has done so much for the British Women's + Hospitals and so many other war objects, and women + representatives of every calling in the nation at peace and + war. Mrs. Pankhurst, who has been very active in war work, + was also present on the Premier's invitation, and Mrs. + Fawcett brought a Welshwoman who made her plea in her own + language, the Premier's own, too, and the one he loves to + hear. In his reply, he assured them the bill would contain a + measure of enfranchisement for women as drafted, and he was + quite sure the House would carry it.</p> + + <p>The recommendations of the Speakers' Conference were an + agreed compromise, and the Representation of the People Bill, + as it was called on <span class="pagenum"><a name="page266" + id="page266"></a>[pg 266]</span> its introduction, has gone + through very much on the lines of the recommendations. It + arranges for postal or proxy votes for the soldier, the + sailor and the merchant seaman, it simplifies the + qualifications for men, it retains the University vote for + men and extends it to women, and it enfranchises women of + thirty years of age on a residence qualification, and all + wives of voters of the same age. It disfranchises, for the + time, the conscientious objector who will do no national + service. The age at which our men vote is twenty-one. The + higher age of the women was a compromise, which was accepted + by all women's societies and by labour women, though it was + not the terms they stood for—equality.</p> + + <p>If we had it on the same terms as men, we should very + greatly outnumber the men. There were over a million more women + than men before the war and a new electorate greater than all + the men's numbers brought in at once was not considered wise. + To press for it would have wrecked our chances.</p> + + <p>This measure enfranchises six million women, + <span class="pagenum"><a name="page267" + id="page267"></a>[pg 267]</span> and about ten million men + are now voters, so we have a very fair proportion.</p> + + <p>The women's clause was carried, with only thirty-five + dissentients and later only seventeen voted against it.</p> + + <p>In this same bill, with practically no discussion, an + amendment was carried enfranchising the wives of local + government electors.</p> + + <p>It is difficult to adequately express the confidence, the + desire, and the willingness to co-operate, that there is now + between our men and women.</p> + + <p>We know, too, that the great woman's movement of our + country, which has worked to this end for fifty years and + numbered our greatest women among its adherents, has had much + to do with the ability of our women to take the great part they + have in this crisis. If women had not toiled and opened + education and opportunities to women, and preached the + necessity of full service, we could not have done it.</p> + + <p>One great thing the war has done for our women is to draw us + all closely together—in + <span class="pagenum"><a name="page268" + id="page268"></a>[pg 268]</span> common sorrows, hopes and + fears, we find how much we are one and in so much of our + work women of every rank of life are together. We had that + union before in many ways, but never so completely as now. + <i>Punch</i> has a delightful picture that summed up how we + are mixed in soldier's canteens, and huts and buffets, and + Hospitals, which show a little Londoner saying to a meek + member of the aristocracy "washing up," "Nar, then, Lady + Halexandra, 'urry up with them plaites," and we have an + amusing little play of the same kind. The society girl who + washes down the Hospital steps, and washes up for hours, and + carries meals up and down stairs in her work, week after + week, and month after month, and year after year, in our + Hospitals, knows what work is now, and the soldier who is + served, and the soldier's sister and wife, learns something, + too, about her that is worth learning.</p> + + <p>We have also learned a great deal in our welfare work, and + the welfare supervisors and the workers both have benefited, + and the heads of the innumerable hostels, which we have built + <span class="pagenum"><a name="page269" + id="page269"></a>[pg 269]</span> everywhere for our + girls—dozens in our new Government-built munition + cities, have been of very real help and service to the + girls. A tactful, sensible, educated woman has a great deal + to give that helps the younger girl, and can look after and + advise her as to health, work, leisure and amusements in a + way that leaves real lasting benefit.</p> + + <p>In the munition works, well educated women, women with + plenty of money, women who never worked before, work year after + year beside the working girl. Just at first some of the working + girls were not quite sure of her, but it is all right long, + long ago, and they mutually admire each other. The well-off + woman works her hours and takes her pay, and takes it very + proudly. I have been told many times by these women who, for + the first time know the joy of earning money, "I never felt so + proud in my life as when I got my first week's money." And the + men in the factories learn a lot, too. "Women have been too + much kept back," was the comment of a foreman in a shell + factory to the Chief Woman Factory + <span class="pagenum"><a name="page270" + id="page270"></a>[pg 270]</span> Inspector on a visit she + was paying to it. The skilled men, teaching the women, have + learned a great deal about them, too, and have helped the + women in so many ways. Men have been amazed at the ability + and power and capacity for work of the women and are, on the + whole, very willing to say so and express their + admiration.</p> + + <p>One munition girl writes: "The timekeeper, quite a gorgeous + gentleman in uniform, gave us quite a welcome.... The + charge-hand of the Welder's shop helped us to start, and stayed + with us most of Friday. He was most kind, and showed us the + best way to tackle each job, did one for us, and then watched + us doing it."</p> + + <p>Another says, "Our foreman is a dear old man, so kind and + full of fun. The men welders are awfully good to us."</p> + + <p>In considering the practical facts of new opportunities for + women, one thing is clear. Masses of our women took their new + work as "temporary war workers," but as the war has gone on, it + has become clearer and clearer that, + <span class="pagenum"><a name="page271" + id="page271"></a>[pg 271]</span> in many cases, these tasks + are going to be permanently open to women. One reason is + that many of the men will never return to take up their work + again—another, that many of them will never return to + what they did before.</p> + + <p>They have been living in the open-air, doing such different + things, such big vistas have opened out that they will never be + content to go back to some of their tasks. There is the other + fact that we, like every other country, will need to repair and + renovate so much, will need to create new and more industries, + will need to add to our productiveness to pay off our burdens + of debt, and to carry out our schemes of reconstruction, so + women will still be needed. Our women, in still greater + numbers, will not be able to marry, and the best thing for any + nation and any set of women is to do work, and there will be + plenty of room for all the work our women can do. Many will go + back to home work, of course; there are large numbers who are + working in our country, only while their husbands are away, and + when <span class="pagenum"><a name="page272" + id="page272"></a>[pg 272]</span> they return will find their + work in their homes again.</p> + + <p>We are offering special training opportunities to the young + widow of the soldier or officer.</p> + + <p>In special branches of work our opportunities are very much + greater and better. Medicine is one of the professions in which + women have very specially made good. Better training + opportunities have opened, more funds have been raised to + enable women of small means to get medical education, and the + Queen herself gave a portion of a gift of money she received, + for this purpose. Most medical appointments are open to them + now and they have been urged by the great medical bodies to + enter for training in still greater numbers in the different + Universities, and have done so.</p> + + <p>More research is being done by them in every department. In + professions such as accountancy, architecture, analytical + chemistry, more and more women are entering. In the banking + world women have done very satisfactory work, and one London + bank manager, asked to say what he + <span class="pagenum"><a name="page273" + id="page273"></a>[pg 273]</span> thought of prospects after + the war, says he is very strongly of opinion it will + continue to be a profession for women after the war. This + manager thinks the question of higher administrative posts + being open to women will depend entirely on themselves and + their work, and what they prove capable of achieving and + holding, they will certainly have.</p> + + <p>In the war, one profession, in particular, has come nearer + to finding its rightful place than ever before—the + teaching profession. Their salaries which, in too many cases, + were disgracefully low, have been raised. The woman teacher has + shown her capacity in new fields of work in the boys' schools, + but it is in another sense that their profession, both men and + women, but very specially the women, have achieved a very real + gain in the war.</p> + + <p>The teachers of the country have done a very great deal of + war work of every kind. The National Register of 1915 was + largely done by their labour. The War Savings Associations and + Committees owe a great debt to teachers and inspectors, + <span class="pagenum"><a name="page274" + id="page274"></a>[pg 274]</span> who are the backbone of the + movement, headmistresses are asked constantly to help in + securing trained women, taught to work in Hospitals on their + holidays, on land, in organizing supplies and comforts in + canteens and clubs, and more and more are put on official + Committees in their towns and districts.</p> + + <p>It means the teacher is finding the status and position the + teachers in their profession ought to have in their + communities, and the war has done a great deal towards + achieving that desirable end, though there is still a good deal + to be done.</p> + + <p>In the Government Service there has undoubtedly been great + opportunities for women, especially those of organizing, + executive and secretarial ability—and in many cases the + payment in higher posts is identical for men and women, and + higher posts, if they have the ability, are freely given to + women and the whole position of women in our Civil Service is + improved. In the very highest posts, such as those of Insurance + and Feeble-minded Commissioners, etc., women before the war + received the same salaries as + men.</p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page275" + id="page275"></a>[pg 275]</span> + + <p>The organizing ability and the common sense way in which our + women in voluntary organization, quite rapidly, themselves + decided what organizations were unnecessary and merely + duplicating others, and refused to help them, so that they died + out quite quickly, roused admiration, and the war has educated + vast numbers of women in organization and executive ability. + Women who never in their lives organized anything, and never + kept an account properly, are doing all kinds of useful work. + One nice middle-aged lady whose War Savings Association + accounts were being kept wrongly, or rather were not really + being kept at all, when told they must be done fully and + correctly by one of our National Committee representatives, + said, "Oh, but you see, I never did anything but crochet before + the war"; but we have succeeded in making even the crochet + ladies keep accounts and do wonderful things.</p> + + <p>In the great world of mechanics and engineering, women are + doing a wonderful amount of work and, there is no doubt, will + remain in certain departments after the war. One danger + <span class="pagenum"><a name="page276" + id="page276"></a>[pg 276]</span> there is in the women's + attitude—so many of our women have learned one branch + of work very quickly, that there probably will be a tendency + to believe that anything can be learned as easily. There are + only certain departments of mechanics that can be learned in + a few months' time, and women will probably go on doing + these. Such work as theirs in optical munitions, has shown + their very special aptitude for it and in law-making, etc., + they will be used more and more. Women have successfully + done tool-setting and can go on with that. The training for + civil and mechanical engineering is long, but there will be, + if women are keen and will train, plenty of opportunity for + them in peace-time occupations in civil, mechanical or + electrical branches in connection with municipal, sanitary + and household questions and in laundries, farms, etc. The + women architects and these women could very well co-operate + closely.</p> + + <p>Women clerks and secretaries will remain largely after the + war. Fewer men will want these posts as we are convinced there + will be big <span class="pagenum"><a name="page277" + id="page277"></a>[pg 277]</span> movements among our men to + more active work, to the land and to the Dominions + overseas.</p> + + <p>Women on the land will in numbers stay there, and there is a + distinct movement among women with capital to go in for + farming, market gardening, bee-keeping, poultry-keeping, etc., + still more.</p> + + <p>The war has made more of our fathers and mothers realize the + right of their daughters to education and training, and there + are very few parents in our country now, who think a girl needs + to know nothing very practical, and has no need to go in for a + profession. Our women's colleges have more students than ever + and the war has done great things in breaking down these old + conventional ideas. The war, in fact, has shaken the very + foundations of the old Victorian beliefs in the limited sphere + of women to atoms. Our sphere is now very much more what every + human being's sphere is and ought to be—the place and + work in which our capacity, ability or genius finds its fullest + vent—and there is no need to worry about restricting + women or anyone <span class="pagenum"><a name="page278" + id="page278"></a>[pg 278]</span> else to particular + spheres—if they cannot do it, they cannot fill the + sphere, and that test decides. The dear old Victorian + dugouts grow fewer and fewer in number, but we never must + forget that the great powers of women have not come in a + night, miraculously, in the war. They are the result of long + years of patient work before, and we women, who have had + these great opportunities, must see to it that we nobly + carry on the traditions of teaching and training and + qualifying ourselves for service, bequeathed to us from + older generations.</p> + + <p>One thing, too, despite the war tasks and strain, we have + not lost sight of the fact that the great fundamental tasks of + keeping the house, guarding and seeing to the children must be + well done. Just for a little, some of our tasks of child + welfare had fewer workers, but many of the women realized the + value of all these tasks as supreme, and took up the work + freely. Child welfare work in particular the Suffrage woman + organized and worked, Glasgow Suffragists taking on the + visiting of babies, always done there, + <span class="pagenum"><a name="page279" + id="page279"></a>[pg 279]</span> in a whole ward of the + city, and in other towns they started Day Nurseries.</p> + + <p>Lord Rhondda at the Local Government Board instituted Baby + week and we hope to found a Ministry of Health very soon. So in + the War we have realized even more vividly how great and + valuable and important these tasks of women are. A very great + amount of work for child welfare has been done by our women in + the war, and our infant death rate is going still lower.</p> + + <p>The war has done a great service in drawing women of all the + Allied Nations together—a service whose greatness and + magnitude it is not easy to fully realize. French and English + men and women know so much more of each other now. Our + hospitals in France, our Canteens for French Soldiers, as well + as our own, our women and the French women working side by side + in our army clerical departments and ordnance depots in France, + the Belgians and French who are among us in such large numbers, + make us known to each other. In Serbia we have made many + friends and in Italy and Russia and Romania, + <span class="pagenum"><a name="page280" + id="page280"></a>[pg 280]</span> all links for the future, + and helps to wider knowledge and understanding. It is on + understanding the hopes of the world rest, and we women have + a great part to play in that.</p> + + <p>With America our link has always been very great and all the + help, and gifts, and service America gave us before it entered + the war, have been very precious to us. American women have + given Hospitals and ambulances and everything possible in the + way of succour and of service, and have died with our women in + nursing service, as the men have in our ranks.</p> + + <p>Massachusetts sent a nurse to France, Miss Alice Fitzgerald, + in memory of Edith Cavell, which shows the unity of your + feeling and ours on that tragic execution, and her work under + our War Office in Queen Alexandra's Imperial Army Nursing + Service with the British Expeditionary Force, as well as the + work of all the American nurses we have had helping us, is + another link in the great chain. Our own great Commonwealth of + Nations are nearer to each other than ever before. There were + even people <span class="pagenum"><a name="page281" + id="page281"></a>[pg 281]</span> among us who thought a + little as the enemy did that our Dominions would not stand + by us—stupid and blind people.</p> + + <p>It is their fight as well as ours—the common fight of + all free peoples, and all our united nations stand together, + including those who only a few years ago were fighting us as + brave foes.</p> + + <p>We have learned so much in great ways and in small ways, in + economies and in the care of all our resources, too. We women + are more careful in Britain now. We save food, and grow more, + and produce more, and maids and mistresses work together to + economize and help. We gather our waste paper and sell it or + give it to the Red Cross for their funds, give our bottles and + our rags, waste no food and save and lend our money. We could + not have been called a thrifty nation before the war—we + are much more thrifty now, in many ways, though there are still + things we could learn.</p> + + <p>In the Women's Army and in so much of our work we are + learning discipline and united service—learning what it + means to be proud of your + <span class="pagenum"><a name="page282" + id="page282"></a>[pg 282]</span> corps and to feel the + uniform you wear or the badge is something you must be + worthy of—and it goes back to being worthy of your own + flag and of the ideals for which we all stand in these + days.</p> + + <p>And the young wives who are married and left behind, who + bear their children with their husbands far away in danger, who + have had no real homes yet, but who wait and hope, they are + very wonderful in their courage and pluck—and, most of + all, everywhere, our women, like our men, wisely refuse to be + dreary. There are enough secret dark hours, but in our work we + carry on cheerfully, the women know the soldiers' slogan, + "Cheero," and to Britain and to "somewhere on the fronts," the + same message goes and comes.</p> + + <p>Of the great spiritual worths and values, it has brought to + women very much what it has brought to men. All eternal things + are more real, all eternal truths more clearly perceived. When + the whole foundations of life rock under us, in where "there is + no change, neither shadow of turning," the heart rests more + surely in these + days.</p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page283" + id="page283"></a>[pg 283]</span> + + <p>It has brought us agonies and tears, weariness and pain, + self-denial and great sorrows, but it has brought such riches + of self-sacrifice, such service, such love, has shown us such + peaks of revelation and vision to which the soul and the nation + can attain, that we count ourselves rich, though so much has + gone.</p> + + <p>To think of what we might have been if we had refused to + bear our share—to look back on the evils of luxury and + selfishness that were creeping over us, makes us feel that we + may have lost some things, but "what shall it profit a man if + he gain the whole world and lose his own soul." And we have + saved our soul. The souls of the nations travail in a new birth + through a night of agony and tears. The purposes being worked + out are so great, that it is difficult for us to see them with + our limited human vision, but in great moments of insight we do + see, and having seen, go back to our tasks in the light of that + vision, knowing that though now we fight in dim shadows with + monstrous and awful evils of mankind's + <span class="pagenum"><a name="page284" + id="page284"></a>[pg 284]</span> creation, the day is coming + nearer and the light will come.</p> + + <p>An age is dying and a new age comes, and what it shall be + only the men and women of the world can + answer.</p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page285" + id="page285"></a>[pg 285]</span> + + <h3>CHAPTER XIV</h3> + + <h2>RECONSTRUCTION</h2> + + <div class="poem"> + <div class="stanza"> + <p>"The tumult and the shouting dies—</p> + + <p class="i2">The captains and the Kings + depart—</p> + + <p>Still stands thine ancient sacrifice,</p> + + <p class="i2">An humble and a contrite heart.</p> + + <p>Lord God of Hosts; be with us yet,</p> + + <p>Lest we forget, lest we forget."</p> + </div> + </div> + + <p class="author">—RUDYARD KIPLING.</p> + + <div class="poem"> + <div class="stanza"> + <p>"We shall not cease from mental fight,</p> + + <p class="i2">Nor shall our sword sleep in our + hand,</p> + + <p>Till we have built Jerusalem,</p> + + <p class="i2">In England's green and pleasant + land."</p> + </div> + </div> + + <p class="author">—W. + BLAKE.</p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page287" + id="page287"></a>[pg 287]</span> + + <p>And what is to come after? The first and the last and the + greatest thing to do is to win the war and to get the right + settlement. Unless we finish this struggle with the nations + free, there can be no real reconstruction. The greatest work of + reconstruction—the fundamental work—will be at the + peace table. Those who are giving everything and doing + everything to gain victory for the Allies, are the true + reconstructors of the world.</p> + + <p>The first great task of reconstruction is victory and the + second is right peace settlements.</p> + + <p>We cannot say that anything we can do will make future peace + certain, but we can see that just and righteous settlements are + made, so that the foundations are laid that ought to ensure + peace in the future. There is no real peace possible while + injustices exist.</p> + + <p>There is no real peace possible while evil and good contend + for mastery, and the spiritual conflicts + <span class="pagenum"><a name="page288" + id="page288"></a>[pg 288]</span> of man are, and will be, as + terrible as any physical conflicts. While mankind stands + where it does now, it is well that against corruption of + spirit and thought, we can use our bodies as shields.</p> + + <p>The fact that we have had to fight Germany physically, shows + clearly that spiritually and mentally we were unable to make + them see truth and honour, and the meaning of freedom, and that + the ideal of peace made no real appeal to them.</p> + + <p>They built up in their nation great thought forces of + aggression, of belief in militarism, of worship of might, of + belief that war paid, and was in itself good, that there was no + conscience higher than the state. They even worship God as a + sort of tribal God whom they call upon to work with + them—not a question as to whether they are on God's + side—no—an assertion that God is on theirs.</p> + + <p>That was their thought—and the thoughts of the other + nations were bent on problems of freedom and growing democracy, + of widening opportunities, of political and commercial + interest, <span class="pagenum"><a name="page289" + id="page289"></a>[pg 289]</span> were, on the whole, the + vaguely good thoughts of evolving democracies (with notable + exceptions), but not the clear powerful thoughts needed to + fight effectually those of Germany in the fields of + intellect and spirit.</p> + + <p>People did not see the full evil of Germany's + thought—it was tied up with so much that was efficient + and good and able, and we were only half articulate as to our + own beliefs, and not even thoroughly clear or agreed about + them, and Germany considered us slack and inefficient, and + believed we might even be induced to consent to seeing Europe + overrun and doing nothing. We did not believe, despite warning, + that any nation thought as Germany did and we seemed, in their + minds, to be people to be dominated and swept over.</p> + + <p>One interesting fact to note is that Germany, despite its + boasted knowledge of psychology, did not realise that England + possesses a definite sub-conscious mind which always guides its + actions. The sub-conscious mind of England is a desire for fair + play, for justice, and a very definite sense of freedom. + England is the creator of self-government + <span class="pagenum"><a name="page290" + id="page290"></a>[pg 290]</span> and its sub-conscious mind, + built up for centuries, is a very definite and real + thing.</p> + + <p>The sub-conscious mind of Germany, filled with these + dominating ideas of power and <i>Weltmacht</i> and militarism, + goes on, once set free, to its logical end, and it seems + clearer and clearer that there is no real end to this struggle + till we make the mind and soul of Germany realize its crimes + and mistakes, till they are sane again and talk the A, B, C of + civilization. The real reconstruction of the world begins + there.</p> + + <p>That end reached and settlements justly done, we may + consider schemes for a League of Nations and practical + possibilities of work in international organizations to prevent + disputes leading to war.</p> + + <p>The work of reconstruction must be international, as well as + national, but the people who do, and will do, the best + international work are the people who do the best national + work. The individuals who are not prepared to spend time and + service and effort to make their own country better and nobler, + are going to do nothing for internationalism that is worth + doing. The heart <span class="pagenum"><a name="page291" + id="page291"></a>[pg 291]</span> that finds nothing to love + and work for in its neighbour is the heart that has nothing + to bring to the whole world.</p> + + <p>Again, there must be reparation by the enemy. We cannot + reconstruct this world rightly if we do not enforce justice. A + nation that has broken every international and human law is a + nation that must be made to pay for its crimes as far as human + justice can secure it.</p> + + <p>Our six thousand murdered merchant seamen, the thousands of + passengers they have killed, the civilians they have bombed, + are marshalled against them, and the horrors of their + frightfulness, deliberately planned and carried out against the + peoples they have held in bondage, their refusal to even feed + properly their prisoners and captive people—are we to be + told to reconstruct a world without reparation for these and + their other crimes?</p> + + <p>We shall have a reconstructed world with right foundations, + only when the nations know that justice is throned + internationally, and that every crime is to be judged and + punished. <span class="pagenum"><a name="page292" + id="page292"></a>[pg 292]</span> There can be no new world + without living faith, without real religion. A cheap and + sentimental humanitarism is no substitute for real + faith—philosophies that seem adequate in ordinary + times are poor things when the soul of man stands stripped + of all its trappings and faces death and suffering and + watches agonies. Then the abiding eternal soul knows its own + reality and its oneness with the Divine and eternal, and the + sacrifice of Christ is a real living thing—and in the + men's sacrifice they are very near to Him.</p> + + <p>So the Churches are being tested, too, in this great crisis, + and in a reconstructed world we shall want Churches that carry + the message of Christianity with a clearer and firmer voice, + but that is the task of all believers. We cannot cast the duty + of making the Church a living witness on our priests + alone—it is our work, and unless our faith goes into + everything we do, it is no use. People who profess a faith, and + carefully shut it up in a compartment of their lives, so that + it has no real connection with their work, + <span class="pagenum"><a name="page293" + id="page293"></a>[pg 293]</span> are worse than honest + doubters—because they betray what they profess.</p> + + <p>So reconstruction rests upon great spiritual tasks and + values, and upon the willingness and ability of the nations to + carry these out.</p> + + <p>In our country, our political parties are going to be + changed and reconstructed. The Labour Party has already made a + big appeal to "brain and hand workers," and has announced its + scheme of re-organization.</p> + + <p>One definite result of the war in the minds of the people of + our country is the definite mental discarding of state + socialism of the bureaucratic kind as a conceivable system of + government. We have seen bureaucracy at work to a great extent, + and shall undoubtedly have to continue control in many ways + after peace comes, but we do not like it. Socialism will have + to go on to new lines of thought and development if it wishes + to achieve anything—and the most interesting thought and + schemes are on the lines of Guild + Socialism.</p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page294" + id="page294"></a>[pg 294]</span> + + <p>How the great Liberal and Unionist Parties will emerge, we + cannot say—but this we know, they will be different. We + have a new electorate, more men and the women, and the opinion + and needs of the women will undoubtedly affect our political + reconstruction. Most of us, in the war, have entirely ceased to + care for party; even the most fierce of partisans have changed, + and the "party appeal," in itself, will be of little account in + our country.</p> + + <p>I feel sure we shall scrutinize measures and men and + programmes more carefully, and the work of educating our women + will be part of the women's great tasks in reconstruction.</p> + + <p>Our ability to reconstruct and renew rests fundamentally + upon our financial condition—even the power to make the + best peace terms rests upon it. Crippled countries cannot stand + out for the best terms, so finance is all-important.</p> + + <p>The democratic nature of our loans is all-important, too. We + have had people suggesting that these loans would be + repudiated—a suggestion that is not only absurd, but is + humorous <span class="pagenum"><a name="page295" + id="page295"></a>[pg 295]</span> when one realizes that + about ten million of our people have invested in them. To + get a House of Commons elected that would repudiate these + loans would be a difficult task.</p> + + <p>The widespread nature of the loans is sound for the people + and the Government, and will help us not only to win the war, + but, what is still more important, "to win the peace." We have + in this struggle paid more and better wages to our people than + ever before, conditions have been improved, masses of our + people have led a fuller existence than ever before. We want to + make these and still better conditions permanent. We cannot do + that by a military victory only—we can only do it by + finishing financially sound, and the man or woman who saves now + and invests is one of our soundest reconstructors.</p> + + <p>In the readjustments in industry that must come there will + be temporary displacements, and the money invested will be + invaluable to those affected. In our great task of reorganizing + industries, of renovating and repairing, of building up new + works and adding to our productiveness, + <span class="pagenum"><a name="page296" + id="page296"></a>[pg 296]</span> finance is all-important. + We shall need large sums for the development of our + industry, for the transferring of war work back to peace + pursuits, for the opening up of new industries and work, for + the development of trade abroad and the selfish using up of + resources that could be conserved, makes the work + harder—might even, if extravagantly large, cripple us + seriously at the end of this struggle.</p> + + <p>The sacrifices of our men can achieve military victory, but + weakness and self-indulgence at home can take the fruits of + their victories away.</p> + + <p>Those who are working and saving in our War Savings Movement + are so convinced of its value, not only to the state, but to + the individual, and for the character of our people, that they + have expressed the very strongest conviction that it should go + on after the War, and it will probably remain in our + reconstruction.</p> + + <p>We have also urged the wisdom of saving for the children's + education and for dots for daughters, so that our young women + may have some money in emergencies, or something of their own + <span class="pagenum"><a name="page297" + id="page297"></a>[pg 297]</span> on marriage, and both of + these are being done.</p> + + <p>The great problem of education bulks very large in our + reconstruction schemes. A new Education Bill for England and + Wales has been prepared by Mr. Fisher—and his appointment + is in itself a sign of our new attitude. He is Minister of + Education and is really an educationist, having been + Vice-Chancellor of Sheffield University when given the + appointment. His Bill puts an end to that stigma on English + education, the half-time system in Lancashire, and raises the + age for leaving school to what it has been in Scotland for some + years—sixteen years of age. It provides greater + opportunities for secondary and technical training and improves + education in every way. Its passage, or the passage of a still + better Bill, is essential for any real work in + reconstruction.</p> + + <p>There are other schemes of education being planned and + considered, and women are working with men on the education + committee of the Ministry of + Reconstruction.</p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page298" + id="page298"></a>[pg 298]</span> + + <p>The land question is all-important in reconstruction. We + have fixed a minimum price for wheat for five years, as well as + minimum wages for the labourers on land, men and women, and we + have schemes and land for the settlement of soldiers. It is + safe to predict that agriculture will be better looked after + than it was before the war, and that we have learned a valuable + lesson on food production, and the value of being more + self-supporting.</p> + + <p>There are people who talk airily and foolishly of + "revolutions after the war"—of great labour troubles, of + exorbitant and impossible demands, of irreconcilable quarrels. + These people are themselves the creators and begettors of + trouble, and mischievous in the highest degree. They belong, + though they are much less attractive, to the same category as + the person who tells you that the moral regeneration of the + world is coming from this great war.</p> + + <p>The "revolutionists" have to learn that there is no need to + have any such crises happen, that they can only happen if we + are foolish beyond <span class="pagenum"><a name="page299" + id="page299"></a>[pg 299]</span> belief and + conception—for we have learned in this war how great + and ample is the common meeting ground of all of us, how + impossible it is for anyone to believe that we, who have + fought together, suffered and lost together, while our men + have died together, cannot find in consideration of claims + enough common sense and wisdom to prevent any such + disaster.</p> + + <p>And one wonders where the people are going to be found who + are going to be so unjust to the workers as to provide any + reason for such dangers to be feared, for we know one thing in + the war, that in the trenches, on the sea, behind the trenches + and carrying on at home, the workers have done the greater + part—and they, in their turn, know all others have borne + their share. Out of such common knowledge and the consciousness + that the practical work of democracy is to raise its people + more and more, we shall have not revolution, but evolution of + the best kind. And the moral regeneration of the world will + come if we reconstruct the one thing that matters most and that + is fundamental to <span class="pagenum"><a name="page300" + id="page300"></a>[pg 300]</span> + all—ourselves—and it will not come if we do not. + When one has said everything there is to be said of schemes + and hopes of reconstruction—about the schemes for + better homes, and a great housing scheme is wisely one of + the foundation schemes of our reconstruction, for which + plans are now being prepared, about schemes for the care of + children, about schemes for endowment of motherhood, which + are exercising the minds of many of our women, you are back + again to the individual. When you think of education + schemes, and schemes for teaching national service to the + young, of work to teach care and thrift, you are back again + to the problem of creating character.</p> + + <p>When you go into the great world of industry and its + problems, of care of the workers in health and sickness, of + securing justice and full opportunities, of developing and + wisely using our resources, again you return to the + individual.</p> + + <p>When you want to make the art and beauty of life accessible + to all, you come back to the question + <span class="pagenum"><a name="page301" + id="page301"></a>[pg 301]</span> as to the individual's + desire for it and appreciation of it.</p> + + <p>Schemes in theory may be perfect—reconstruction may be + planned without a flaw—but what does that help if we as + individuals are blind and selfish?</p> + + <p>The regeneration of the world cannot come from the sacrifice + of our men alone, or even of some of us at home. The few may + save countries and do great things, but the work of + reconstruction rests on everybody. Nations are made up of + individuals, and a nation cannot hope for moral and social + regeneration except through individual self-denial, + self-sacrifice and service.</p> + + <p>It is in our own hearts and our own minds that the great + task of reconstruction must be done.</p> + + <p>The greatest task of reconstruction for most of us is to + make all our actions worthy of our highest self—to bring + to the problems that confront us, not one detached and + prejudiced bit of us, but the whole mind and spirit of + ourselves—the best of us always in + unity.</p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page302" + id="page302"></a>[pg 302]</span> + + <p>That is life's greatest task, and calls for all we have to + give, and all we are. There lies true reconstruction and the + hope of all the + world.</p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page303" + id="page303"></a>[pg 303]</span> + + <h2>APPENDIX</h2><span class="pagenum"><a name="page305" + id="page305"></a>[pg 305]</span> + + <p>American Women's War Relief Fund, 123 Victoria Street, + London, S.W. 1.</p> + + <p>Association of Infant Consultation and Schools for Mothers, + 4 Tavistock Square, London, W.C. 1.</p> + + <p>British Women's Hospital, Bond Street, London, W. 1.</p> + + <p>Glove Waistcoat Society, 75 Chancery Lane, E.C. 4.</p> + + <p>Ministry of Food, Mrs. Pember Reeves, Mrs. C.S. Peel, + Grosvenor House, W. 1.</p> + + <p>National Federation of Women's Workers.</p> + + <p>Women's Trade Union League, 34 Mecklenburgh Square, W.C. + 1.</p> + + <p>National Union of Women's Suffrage Societies.</p> + + <p>Scottish Women's Hospitals, 62 Oxford Street, W.C. + 1.</p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page306" + id="page306"></a>[pg 306]</span> + + <p>Women's Interests Committee, 62 Oxford Street, W.C.I.</p> + + <p>National War Savings Committee, Salisbury Square, E.C. + 4.</p> + + <p>National Union of Women Workers (Women Patrols), Parliament + Mansions, Victoria Street, S.W.I.</p> + + <p>Queen Mary's Needlework Guild, St. James Palace, S.W.I.</p> + + <p>National Food Economy League, 3 Woodstock Street, Oxford + Street, W.C.I.</p> + + <p>Prisoners of War, Help Committee, 4 Thurloe Place, Brompton + Road, W.</p> + + <p>Women's Army Auxiliary Corps, Devonshire House, W. 1.</p> + + <p>Women's Branch, Food Production Department, Board of + Agriculture, 72 Victoria Street, S.W.I.</p> + + <p>Women's Service Bureau, L.S.W.S., 58 Victoria Street, S.W. + 1.</p> + + <p>Women's National Land Service Corps, 50 Upper Baker Street, + W. 1.</p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page307" + id="page307"></a>[pg 307]</span> + + <p>Women Police Service, St. Stephens House, Westminster, + S.W.I.</p> + + <p>Young Women's Christian Association, 25 George Street, + Hanover Square, W. 1.</p> + + <p>V.A.D., Lady Ampthill, Devonshire House, W. 1.</p> + <hr /> + + <h3>MINISTRY OF MUNITIONS</h3> + <hr class="short" /> + + <h4>PUBLICATIONS OF HEALTH OF MUNITION WORKERS' COMMITTEE</h4> + + <p>The following Memoranda have been prepared by the Committee + and issued:</p> + + <p>No. 1—Sunday Labour.</p> + + <p>No. 2—Welfare Supervision.</p> + + <p>No. 3—Industrial Canteens.</p> + + <p>No. 4—Employment of Women.</p> + + <p>No. 5—Hours of Work.</p> + + <p>No. 6—Canteen Construction and Equipment (Appendix to + No. 3).</p> + + <p>No. 7—Industrial Fatigue and Its Causes. + <span class="pagenum"><a name="page308" + id="page308"></a>[pg 308]</span> No. 8—Special + Industrial Diseases.</p> + + <p>No. 9—Ventilation and Lighting of Munition Factories + and Workshops.</p> + + <p>No. 10—Sickness and Injury.</p> + + <p>No. 11—Investigation of Workers' Food and Suggestions + as to Dietary. (Report by Leonard E. Hill, F.R.S.)</p> + + <p>No. 12—Statistical Information Concerning Output in + Relation to Hours of Work. (Report by H.M. Vernon, M.D.)</p> + + <p>No. 13—Juvenile Employment.</p> + + <p>No. 14—Washing Facilities and Baths.</p> + + <p>No. 15—The Effect of Industrial Conditions Upon + Eyesight.</p> + + <p>No. 16—Medical Certificates for Munition Workers.</p> + + <p>also, Feeding the Munition Worker.</p> + + <p>Published by H.M. STATIONERY OFFICE,</p> + + <p>London, W.C.</p> + <hr class="full" /> + <span class="pagenum"><a name="pagei" + id="pagei"></a>[pg i]</span> + + <blockquote> + <p>You have read this book and you will agree with the + Publisher that it ought to have an immediate and wide + distribution. Will you help him to eliminate wasteful + advertising by sending the post card enclosed, giving your + opinion of the book to one of your friends.</p> + </blockquote> + + <center> + AND + </center> + + <blockquote> + <p>Since you have probably seen the imprint of G. Arnold + Shaw on a book for the first time, will you spend a few + minutes scanning the following pages, to discover what the + best critical opinion is upon other recent Shaw + publications. They are intended for the discriminating few + as our trademark, "Aere Perennius"—"more lasting than + brass," indicates.</p> + </blockquote> + <hr class="full" /> + <span class="pagenum"><a name="pageii" + id="pageii"></a>[pg ii]</span> + + <h2>Books by Members of the University Lecturers</h2> + + <p>A significant proof of the growth of the Association's + influence in recent years is afforded by the fact that our + Secretary, Mr. G. Arnold Shaw, has been enabled to enter the + publishing field successfully. We reverse thus the plan of + campaign of the ordinary lecture bureau which is usually + impressed with the possibilities of a man who has won fame as + an author rather than as a lecturer; we discover that a man is + a first rate lecturer and then we proceed to make him an + author—also of the front rank as the reviews quoted below + show.</p> + + <h3>ART AND ARCHITECTURE</h3> + + <p><b>By IAN C. HANNAH, F.S.A.</b></p> + + <div class="poem"> + <div class="stanza"> + <p>Some Irish Religious Houses... .50</p> + + <p>Irish Cathedrals... .50</p> + </div> + </div> + + <p><b>By I.B. STOUGHTON HOLBORN</b></p> + + <div class="poem"> + <div class="stanza"> + <p>The Need for Art in Life. (Third Thousand)... + .75</p> + + <p class="i2">"One of the greatest little books of the + Age."—Boston Transcript.</p> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <p>Architectures of European Religions, Illustrated... + 2.00</p> + </div> + </div> + + <h3>AUTOBIOGRAPHY</h3> + + <p>The interest of these books depend not merely upon the + interesting personality of the famous lecturer and the equally + fascinating personalities of his two brothers, but also on the + exquisite literary style to which the critics have paid such + eloquent testimony.</p> + + <p><b>By JOHN COWPER POWYS AND LLEWELLYN POWYS</b></p> + + <div class="poem"> + <div class="stanza"> + <p>Confessions of Two Brothers... 1.50</p> + </div> + </div> + + <p><b>By THEODORE FRANCIS POWYS</b></p> + + <div class="poem"> + <div class="stanza"> + <p>The Soliloquy of a Hermit... 1.00</p> + + <p class="i2">This book can be compared to Amiel's + Journal in the opinion of a prominent London + publisher.</p> + </div> + </div> + <hr /> + <span class="pagenum"><a name="pageiii" + id="pageiii"></a>[pg iii]</span> + + <h3>ESSAYS AND CRITICISM</h3> + + <p>The essays contained in the following books deal with the + best lecture subjects of our various members; they are + specially recommended to those who wish to pursue further the + study outlined in our lecture courses.</p> + + <p><b>By I.B. STOUGHTON HOLBORN</b></p> + + <div class="poem"> + <div class="stanza"> + <p><b>The Need for Art in Life</b>... 75</p> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <p>"The thoughtful man who reads it will feel that a + new</p> + + <p>classic has been added to the world's + literature."—<b>Boston Transcript.</b></p> + </div> + </div> + + <p><b>By JOHN COWPER POWYS</b></p> + + <div class="poem"> + <div class="stanza"> + <p><b>Visions and Revisions</b>, A Book of Literary + Devotions... 2.00</p> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <p>"Seventeen essays remarkable for the omission of all + that is tedious and cumbersome in literary + appreciations."—<b>Review of Reviews.</b></p> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <p><b>Suspended Judgments</b>, Essays on Books and + Sensations... 2.00</p> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <p>"Anything written by John Cowper Powys is arresting + and thrilling. This is superlatively true of his essays + in literary criticism."—<b>Cincinnati + Enquirer.</b></p> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <p>"A book of infinite delight to the book lover, for + few present day writers have the ability in the same + measure as Mr. Powys to express every shade of + impression and sensation, and his ripe judgment will + appeal to all."—<b>Boston Globe.</b></p> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <p><b>One Hundred Best Books</b>, with commentary and + an essay on Books and Reading... 75</p> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <p>"Of each of the hundred books he gives a brief, + sparkling, thoroughly informative and delightfully + interesting critical view. If book reviewers could do + the job as well as Mr. Powys, the book pages would be + the most popular part of a newspaper."—<b>Evening + Telegram, Philadelphia.</b></p> + </div> + </div> + <hr /> + <span class="pagenum"><a name="pageiv" + id="pageiv"></a>[pg iv]</span> + + <h3>FICTION</h3> + + <p>Critics of literature seldom succeed as creative artists and + so it is specially remarkable that the highest authorities give + even more unqualified praise to the fiction of our members than + to their essays. We need not emphasize further our lack of + appreciation for the literary value of "best-sellers"; our aim + has not been to produce topical tracts for the times but novels + that will survive. It is more to us that competent critics + should compare Mr. Powys' fiction to that of Hardy, Dostoievsky + and Emily Bronte than that the public should buy it by the + hundred thousand. Those who are not convinced that "you can + place 'Wood and Stone' unhesitatingly at the side of + Dostoievsky's masterpieces" should reflect that this is not the + over-enthusiasm of "America's newest Publisher" but the verdict + of a London publisher who has long held a pre-eminent position; + it is therefore peculiarly satisfactory to point out that our + first novel "Wood and Stone" was</p> + + <center> + <b>PUBLISHED UNDER THE IMPRINT OF</b> + </center> + + <table summary="" + align="center"> + <tr> + <td align="center">WILLIAM HEINEMANN</td> + + <td align="center">G. ARNOLD SHAW</td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td align="center"> + <div class="figure" + style="width:50%;"> + <a href="images/325-1.png"><img width="100%" + src="images/325-1.png" + alt="HEINEMANN" /></a> + </div> + </td> + + <td align="center"> + <div class="figure" + style="width:55%;"> + <a href="images/3.png"><img width="100%" + src="images/3.png" + alt="SHAW" /></a> + </div> + </td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td align="center">IN LONDON</td> + + <td align="center">IN NEW YORK</td> + </tr> + </table> + <hr /> + <span class="pagenum"><a name="pagev" + id="pagev"></a>[pg v]</span> + + <h3>FICTION</h3> + + <div class="poem"> + <div class="stanza"> + <p><b>By IAN CAMPBELL HANNAH</b></p> + + <p class="i2"><b>Quaker-Born, A Romance of the Great + War</b>... 1.35</p> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <p><b>By I.B. STOUGHTON HOLBORN</b></p> + + <p class="i2"><b>The Child of the Moat</b>, A story of + 1557 for girls... 1.25</p> + + <p class="i2">"Of such absorbing interest and literary + merit that it will doubtless take its place among the + classics."—<b>Art and Archaeology</b>.</p> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <p><b>By JOHN COWPER POWYS</b></p> + + <p class="i2"><b>Wood and Stone</b>, A Romance + reminiscent of the great Dostoievsky... 1.75</p> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <p class="i2">"One of the best novels of the + year."—<b>Evening Post, New York</b>.</p> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <p class="i2">"His mastery of language, his knowledge + of human impulses, his interpretation of the forces of + nature and of the power of inanimate objects over human + beings, all pronounce him a writer of no mean rank. He + can express philosophy in terms of narrative without + prostituting his art; he can suggest an answer without + drawing a moral; with a clearer vision he could stand + among the masters in literary + achievement."—<b>Boston Transcript</b>.</p> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <p class="i2">"Psychologically speaking, it is one of + the most remarkable pieces of fiction ever + written."—<b>Chicago Tribune</b>.</p> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <p class="i2"><b>Rodmoor</b>, A Romance of the old + Thrilling Romantic Order... 1.50</p> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <p class="i2">"It is so far above the average English + and American fiction that one can well exempt it from + the necessity of following the rules. He has intellect, + he has taste, he has a sure instinct for what is + aesthetically fine. These qualities in themselves make + his 'Rodmoor' a novel of exceptional + distinction."—<b>Boston Transcript</b>.</p> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <p class="i2">"Without exception the most exquisitely + written novel of the year."—<b>Atlantic + Monthly</b>.</p> + </div> + </div> + <hr /> + <span class="pagenum"><a name="pagevi" + id="pagevi"></a>[pg vi]</span> + + <h3>HISTORY AND TRAVEL</h3> + + <div class="poem"> + <div class="stanza"> + <p><b>By IAN CAMPBELL HANNAH, M.A., D.C.L., + F.S.A.</b></p> + + <p class="i2">Eastern Asia, A history... 2.50</p> + + <p class="i2">Capitals of the Northlands, A Tale of ten + cities... 2.00</p> + + <p class="i2">The Heart of East Anglia (A History of + Norwich)... 2.00</p> + + <p class="i2">The Berwick and Lothian Coast... 2.00</p> + </div> + </div> + + <h3>POETRY</h3> + + <div class="poem"> + <div class="stanza"> + <p><b>By I.B. STOUGHTON HOLBORN</b></p> + + <p class="i2"><b>Children of Fancy</b>... 2.00</p> + + <p class="i2">"A Notable volume of Verse."—Boston + Globe.</p> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <p><b>By JOHN COWPER POWYS</b></p> + + <p class="i2"><b>Wolf's-bane</b>... 1.25</p> + + <p class="i2">"We hesitate to say how many years it is + necessary to go back in order to find their equals in + sheer poetic originality."—Evening Post, New + York.</p> + + <p class="i2"><b>Mandragora</b>... 1.25</p> + </div> + </div> + + <h3>THE WAR</h3> + + <div class="poem"> + <div class="stanza"> + <p><b>By IAN CAMPBELL HANNAH</b></p> + + <p class="i2"><b>Arms and the Map</b>... 1.25</p> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <p><b>By JOHN COWPER POWYS</b></p> + + <p class="i2"><b>The War and Culture</b>... .60</p> + + <p class="i2">"More weighty than many of the more + pretentious treatises on the subject."—The + Nation.</p> + </div> + </div> + + <center> + <b>Any of the above books sent post-free on receipt of + price by</b> + </center> + + <div class="figcenter" + style="width:100%;"> + <a href="images/327and331.png"><img width="100%" + src="images/327and331.png" + alt="G. ARNOLD SHAW PUBLISHER, NEW YORK" /></a> + </div> + <hr /> + <span class="pagenum"><a name="pagevii" + id="pagevii"></a>[pg vii]</span> + + <h3>Recommended by the A.L.A. Booklist</h3> + + <h4>Specially suitable for Schools and Colleges</h4> + + <h2>ARMS AND THE MAP</h2> + + <h4>A STUDY IN NATIONALITIES AND FRONTIERS</h4> + + <h3>By IAN CAMPBELL HANNAH, M.A., D.C.L.</h3> + + <p class="author"><i>12mo, 256 pages, $1.25 net</i></p> + + <p>This work, which has had a large sale in England, will be + invaluable when the terms of peace begin to be seriously + discussed. Every European people is reviewed and the evolution + of the different nationalities is carefully explained. + Particular reference is made to the so-called "Irredentist" + lands, whose people want to be under a different flag from that + under which they live.</p> + + <p>The colonizing methods of all the nations are dealt with, + and especially the place in the sun that Germany hasn't + got.</p> + + <blockquote class="note"> + <p><b>New York Times</b> says: "Such a volume as this will + undoubtedly be of value in presenting ... facts of great + importance in a brief and interesting fashion."</p> + + <p><b>Brooklyn Daily Eagle</b> says: "It is hard to find a + man who presents his arguments so broad-mindedly as Dr. + Hannah. His spirit is that of a catholic scholar striving + earnestly to find the truth and present it + sympathetically."</p> + + <p><b>Philadelphia North American</b> says: "It is in no + sense history, but rather a preparatory effort to mark + broadly the outlines of any future peace settlement that + would have even a fighting chance of permanency. Only in + perusing a critical study of this character can the vast + problems of post-bellum imminence be fully + apprehended."</p> + + <p><b>Philadelphia Press</b> says: "His work is immensely + readable and particularly interesting at this time and will + throw much fresh light on the situation."</p> + </blockquote> + + <h4>OTHER BOOKS BY IAN C. HANNAH</h4> + + <div class="poem"> + <div class="stanza"> + <p>Eastern Asia, A History... $2.50</p> + + <p>Capitals of the Northlands (A tale of ten cities)... + 2.00</p> + + <p>The Berwick and Lothian Coast (in the County Coast + Series)... 2.00</p> + + <p>The Heart of East Anglia (A History of Norwich)... + 2.00</p> + + <p>Some Irish Religious Houses (Reprinted from the + <i>Archæological Journal</i>)... 50c</p> + + <p>Irish Cathedrals (Reprinted from the + <i>Archæological Journal</i>)... 50c</p> + </div> + </div> + + <h3>G. ARNOLD SHAW Publisher to the University Lecturers + Association</h3> + <hr /> + + <h4>GRAND CENTRAL TERMINAL NEW YORK</h4> + <hr /> + <span class="pagenum"><a name="pageviii" + id="pageviii"></a>[pg viii]</span> + + <h3>Recommended by the A.L.A. Booklist</h3> + + <h4>Adopted for required reading by the Pittsburgh Teachers + Reading Circle</h4> + + <h2>VISIONS AND REVISIONS</h2> + + <h4>A BOOK OF LITERARY DEVOTIONS<br /> + By JOHN COWPER POWYS</h4> + + <center> + <i>8vo, 298 pp. Half White Cloth with Blue Fabriano Paper + Sides, $2.00 net</i> + </center> + + <p>This volume of essays on Great Writers by the well-known + lecturer was the first of a series of three books with the same + purpose as the author's brilliant lectures; namely, to enable + one to discriminate between the great and the mediocre in + ancient and modern literature: the other two books being "One + Hundred Best Books" and "Suspended Judgments."</p> + + <p>Within a year of its publication, four editions of "Visions + and Revisions" were printed—an extraordinary record + considering that it was only the second book issued by a new + publisher. The value of the book to the student and its + interest for the general reader are guaranteed by the + international fame of the author as an interpreter of great + literature and by the enthusiastic reviews it received from the + American Press.</p> + + <blockquote class="note"> + <p><b>Review of Reviews</b>, New York: "Seventeen essays + ... remarkable for the omission of all that is tedious and + cumbersome in literary appreciations, such as pedantry, + muckraking, theorizing, and, in particular, constructive + criticism."</p> + + <p><b>Book News Monthly</b>, Philadelphia: "Not one line in + the entire book that is not tense with thought and feeling. + With all readers who crave mental stimulation ... 'Visions + and Revisions' is sure of a great and enthusiastic + appreciation."</p> + + <p><b>The Nation and the Evening Post</b>, New York: "Their + imagery is bright, clear and frequently picturesque. The + rhythm falls with a pleasing cadence on the ear."</p> + + <p><b>Brooklyn Daily Eagle</b>: "A volume of singularly + acute and readable literary criticism."</p> + + <p><b>Chicago Herald</b>: "An essayist at once scholarly, + human and charming is John Cowper Powys.... Almost every + page carries some arresting thought, quaintly appealing + phrase, or picture spelling passage."</p> + + <p><b>Reedy's Mirror</b>, St. Louis: "Powys keeps you wide + awake in the reading because he's thinking and writing from + the standpoint of life, not of theory or system. Powys has + a system but it is hardly a system. It is a sort of + surrender to the revelation each writer has to make."</p> + + <p><b>Kansas City Star</b>: "John Cowper Powys' essays are + wonderfully illuminating.... Mr. Powys writes in at least a + semblance of the Grand Style."</p> + </blockquote> + + <p>"Visions and Revisions" contains the following + essays:—</p> + + <table summary="authors" + width="100%"> + <tr> + <td align="left">Rabelais</td> + + <td align="left">Dickens</td> + + <td align="left">Thomas Hardy</td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td align="left">Dante</td> + + <td align="left">Goethe</td> + + <td align="left">Walter Pater</td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td align="left">Shakespeare</td> + + <td align="left">Matthew Arnold</td> + + <td align="left">Dostoievsky</td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td align="left">El Greco</td> + + <td align="left">Shelley</td> + + <td align="left">Edgar Allan Poe</td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td align="left">Milton</td> + + <td align="left">Keats</td> + + <td align="left">Walt Whitman</td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td align="left">Charles Lamb</td> + + <td align="left">Nietzsche</td> + + <td align="left">Conclusion</td> + </tr> + </table> + + <h3>G. ARNOLD SHAW Publisher to the University Lecturers + Association</h3> + <hr /> + + <h4>GRAND CENTRAL TERMINAL NEW YORK</h4> + <hr /> + <span class="pagenum"><a name="pageix" + id="pageix"></a>[pg ix]</span> + + <h2>SUSPENDED JUDGMENTS</h2> + + <h3>ESSAYS ON BOOKS AND SENSATIONS<br /> + BY JOHN COWPER POWYS</h3> + + <p>8vo. about 400 pages. Half cloth with blue Fabriano paper + sides $2.00 net</p> + + <p><i>The Book News Monthly</i> said of "Visions and + Revisions":</p> + + <p>"Not one line in the entire book that is not tense with + thought and feeling."</p> + + <p>The author of "Visions and Revisions" says of this new book + of essays:</p> + + <p>"In 'Suspended Judgments' I have sought to express with more + deliberation and in a less spasmodic manner than in 'Visions,' + the various after-thoughts and reactions both intellectual and + sensational which have been produced in me, in recent years, by + the re-reading of my favorite writers. I have tried to capture + what might be called the 'psychic residuum' of earlier fleeting + impressions and I have tried to turn this emotional aftermath + into a permanent contribution—at any rate for those of + similar temperament—to the psychology of literary + appreciation.</p> + + <p>"To the purely critical essays in this volume I have added a + certain number of others dealing with what, in popular + parlance, are called 'general topics,' but what in reality are + always—in the most extreme sense of that + word—personal to the mind reacting from them. I have + called the book 'Suspended Judgments' because while one lives, + one grows, and while one grows, one waits and expects."</p> + + <p>SUSPENDED JUDGMENTS CONTAINS THESE ESSAYS:</p> + + <center> + THE ART OF DISCRIMINATION IN LITERATURE + </center> + + <table summary="authors" + width="100%"> + <tr> + <td align="left">MONTAIGNE<br /> + PASCAL<br /> + VOLTAIRE<br /> + ROUSSEAU<br /> + BALZAC<br /> + VICTOR HUGO<br /> + DE MAUPASSANT<br /> + ANATOLE FRANCE<br /> + PAUL VERLAINE<br /> + REMY DE GOURMONT<br /> + WILLIAM BLAKE<br /> + BYRON</td> + + <td align="left">EMILY BRONTE<br /> + JOSEPH CONRAD<br /> + HENRY JAMES<br /> + OSCAR WILDE<br /> + AUBREY BEARDSLEY<br /> + <br /> + FRIENDS<br /> + RELIGION<br /> + LOVE<br /> + CITIES<br /> + MORALITY<br /> + EDUCATION</td> + </tr> + </table> + + <h3>G. ARNOLD SHAW Publisher to the University Lecturers + Association</h3> + <hr /> + + <h4>GRAND CENTRAL TERMINAL NEW YORK</h4> + <hr /> + <span class="pagenum"><a name="pagex" + id="pagex"></a>[pg x]</span> + + <h1>One Hundred Best Books</h1> + + <h4>With Commentary and An Essay on</h4> + + <h2>BOOKS AND READING</h2> + <hr class="short" /> + + <h2>By John Cowper Powys</h2> + <hr class="short" /> + + <p>This list is designed to supply the need of persons who wish + to acquire a general knowledge of such books in + world-literature as are at once exciting and thrilling to the + ordinary mind and written in the style of the masters. It + recognizes the fact that modern people are most interested in + modern books; but it recognizes also that such books, to be + worthy of this interest, must uphold the classical tradition of + manner and form.</p> + + <table summary="book details" + width="100%"> + <tr> + <td align="left">80 Pages</td> + + <td align="center">12mo.</td> + + <td align="right">75 Cents</td> + </tr> + </table> + <hr class="full" /> + + <div class="figcenter" + style="width:100%;"> + <a href="images/327and331.png"><img width="100%" + src="images/327and331.png" + alt="G. ARNOLD SHAW PUBLISHER. NEW YORK" /></a> + </div> +<div>*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 14676 ***</div> +</body> +</html> diff --git a/14676-h/images/184.png b/14676-h/images/184.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..04b0ce7 --- /dev/null +++ b/14676-h/images/184.png diff --git a/14676-h/images/202-1.png b/14676-h/images/202-1.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..2d195da --- /dev/null +++ b/14676-h/images/202-1.png diff --git a/14676-h/images/202-2.png b/14676-h/images/202-2.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..a6761e1 --- /dev/null +++ b/14676-h/images/202-2.png diff --git a/14676-h/images/203-1.png b/14676-h/images/203-1.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..1427f4b --- /dev/null +++ b/14676-h/images/203-1.png diff --git a/14676-h/images/203-2.png b/14676-h/images/203-2.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..96d6275 --- /dev/null +++ b/14676-h/images/203-2.png diff --git a/14676-h/images/3.png 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Anyone seeking to utilize +this eBook outside of the United States should confirm copyright +status under the laws that apply to them. diff --git a/README.md b/README.md new file mode 100644 index 0000000..4b9c3bb --- /dev/null +++ b/README.md @@ -0,0 +1,2 @@ +Project Gutenberg (https://www.gutenberg.org) public repository for +eBook #14676 (https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/14676) diff --git a/old/14676-8.txt b/old/14676-8.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..1d350b0 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/14676-8.txt @@ -0,0 +1,6095 @@ +The Project Gutenberg eBook, Women and War Work, by Helen Fraser + + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + + + + +Title: Women and War Work + +Author: Helen Fraser + +Release Date: January 12, 2005 [eBook #14676] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + + +***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK WOMEN AND WAR WORK*** + + +E-text prepared by Audrey Longhurst, William Flis, and the Project +Gutenberg Online Distributed Proofreading Team + + + +Note: Project Gutenberg also has an HTML version of this + file which includes the original illustrations. + See 14676-h.htm or 14676-h.zip: + (https://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/1/4/6/7/14676/14676-h/14676-h.htm) + or + (https://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/1/4/6/7/14676/14676-h.zip) + + + + + +WOMEN AND WAR WORK + +by + +HELEN FRASER + +G. Arnold Shaw +New York + +1918 + + + + + + + + "No easy hopes or lies + Shall bring us to our goal, + But iron sacrifice + Of body, will, and soul. + There is but one task for all-- + For each one life to give. + Who stands if freedom fall? + Who dies if England live?" + + Rudyard Kipling in "For All We Have and Are." + + + +[Illustration: A FEW SHELLS] + + + + DEDICATED TO MOTHER, ANNE, AND THE BOYS. + + + + +CONTENTS + + +Chapter + + 1. THE SPIRIT OF WOMEN + + 2. ORGANIZATION AND ITS PITFALLS + + 3. HOSPITALS--RED CROSS--V.A.D. + + 4. BRINGING BLIGHTY TO THE SOLDIERS--HUTS, COMFORTS, ETC. + + 5. WOMAN-POWER FOR MAN-POWER + + 6. WOMEN AND MUNITIONS + + 7. THE PROTECTION OF WOMEN IN INDUSTRY + + 8. "THE WOMEN'S LAND ARMY" + + 9. WAR SAVINGS--THE MONEY BEHIND THE GUNS + + 10. FOOD PRODUCTION AND CONSERVATION + + 11. THE W.A.A.C.'s + + 12. WAR AND MORALS + + 13. WHAT THE WAR HAS DONE FOR WOMEN + + 14. RECONSTRUCTION + + + + +ILLUSTRATIONS + + + A FEW SHELLS (Frontispiece) + + MISS EDITH CAVELL + + DR. ELSIE INGLIS + + FIRST AMBULANCE ON DUTY IN THE FIRST ZEPPELIN RAID + + "SOMEWHERE IN FRANCE" + + CLEANING A LOCOMOTIVE + + WOMEN AS CARRIAGE CLEANERS + + WINDOW CLEANERS + + STEAM ROLLER DRIVER + + TRAINING WOMEN AS AEROPLANE BUILDERS + + RIVETTING ON BOILERS + + FACING BOILER BLUE FLANGES + + ROUGH TURNING JACKET FORGING OF 6-POUNDER HOTCHKISS GUN + + HOW TO DRESS FOR MUNITION MAKING + + BACK TO THE LAND + + WOMEN TACKLE A STRONG MAN'S PROBLEM + + SIX REASONS WHY YOU SHOULD BUY WAR SAVINGS CERTIFICATES + + "FOR YOUR CHILDREN" + + BOOK MARKS ISSUED BY THE N.W.S.C. + + W.A.A.C.'s ON THE MARCH + + WOMEN OF THE RESERVE AMBULANCE + + POLICE WOMEN + + + + + + +FOREWORD + + +"Our War Loan from England"--That is the heading under which were +grouped the nine lectures given by Miss Helen Fraser at Vassar +College. England has borrowed a billion or so of dollars from us, but +the obligation is not all her way. The moral strength of our cause is +immeasurably increased by her alliance, and the spectacle of a great +democracy organizing itself for complete unity in a world crisis is +worth an incalculable amount to us. Such a vision Miss Fraser has +brought to her wider public among the women of America in this notable +book. Of her personal influence let me quote again from the Vassar +students' newspaper: + +"Miss Fraser, here's to you! We don't need to say that we liked Miss +Fraser and everything she had to tell us. The way we followed her +around, and packed every room in which she spoke, out to the doors +and sometimes up to the ceiling, is proof enough of that. And even +the fact that it was Sunday could not check our outburst of song +in the Soap Palace as Miss Fraser departed. Her gracious speech of +appreciation left with us the question not phrased by her before, but +certainly in the minds of every one of us who had been hearing her: +'What are _we_ going to do?'" + +An unsolicited testimonial, this, of the most genuine kind. The +College students of today are not easily coaxed into lecture rooms +outside of their own classes. + +I believe that Miss Fraser's book will be read with the same eager +attention that followed her first speeches in this country as she +began her work of educating American women to a sense of what the +mobilization of the entire citizen army of a democracy must mean. + +Nor will her influence cease there. Miss Fraser's book is a piece of +history; and history is action. The wonderful work of the women of +England is already emulated by the splendid efforts along many lines +of the women in our country. The new lessons of co-operation and of +selfless devotion, learned from this book will, I confidently predict, +within a few months, be translated into action by the Women's War +Service Committees in every state of our land. + +And the greatest lesson of all is that women and men must work +together in this new world. I count it an honour--being a man--to be +asked to introduce Miss Fraser in this way to the American public. +For my part I would have no separate women's division, except such +as concerns the tasks exclusively for women. I would have women side +by side with men in every division of labour, working out the task +with equal fidelity, equal authority, and equal rewards. One of the +results of this amazing age is going to be the new comprehension, +understanding, and sympathy of the one sex for the other. + + H.N. MacCRACKEN. + Vassar College, + Poughkeepsie, New York. + January 11, 1918. + + * * * * * + + + + +The women of all the allies are one in this great struggle. Our hopes +and our fears, our anxieties and our prayers, our visions and our +desolations, are the same. + +Our work is the same task of supporting and sustaining the energies of +our men in arms and of our nations at home. All the allied women know +more of each other than they ever did before, and this is all to the +good. + +The task of women in this struggle and in the reconstruction to come +after, are great tasks, and the world needs in every country not only +the wisdom and knowledge of its own women but the strength in them +that comes from being one of a great world-wide group and conscious of +the unity of all women. + +Anything that can help to that unity and understanding seems to me of +great value, and this record is written for American women in the hope +it may be of some small service. + + H.F. + December 25, 1917. + + * * * * * + + + + +THE SPIRIT OF WOMEN + + + "I have no fear nor shrinking. I have seen death so often that + it is not strange or fearful to me.... I thank God for this + ten weeks' quiet before the end. Life has always been hurried + and full of difficulty. This time of rest has been a great + mercy. They have all been very kind to me here. But this I + would say, standing as I do in view of God and eternity, I + realise that patriotism is not enough. I must have no hatred + or bitterness towards anyone." + + --EDITH CAVELL's last message. + + * * * * * + + + + +CHAPTER I + +THE SPIRIT OF WOMEN + +TO WOMEN + + Your hearts are lifted up, your hearts + That have foreknown the utter price, + Your hearts burn upward like a flame + Of splendour and of sacrifice. + + For you too, to battle go, + Not with the marching drums and cheers, + But in the watch of solitude + And through the boundless night of fears. + + And not a shot comes blind with death, + And not a stab of steel is pressed + Home, but invisibly it tore, + And entered first a woman's breast. + + From LAWRENCE BINYON's "For the Fallen." + + +The spirit of women in this greatest of world struggles cannot, in +its essence, be differentiated from the spirit of men. They are one. +The women of our countries in the mass feel about the issues of this +struggle just as the men do; know, as they do, why we fight, and like +them, are going on to the end. The declarations of our Government as +to conditions for peace are ours, too, and when we vote, we shall show +the spirit of women is clearly and definitely on the side of freedom, +justice and democracy. + +Our actions speak louder than any words can ever do, and the record +of our women's sacrifices and work stand as great silent witnesses to +our spirit. There is nothing we have been asked to do that we have not +done and we have initiated great pieces of work ourselves. The hardest +time was in the beginning when we waited for our tasks, feeling as +if we beat stone walls, reading our casualty lists, receiving our +wounded, caring for the refugees, doing everything we could for the +sailor and soldier and his dependants, helping the women out of work, +but feeling there was so much more to do behind the men--so very much +more--for which we had to wait. We did all the other things faithfully +and, so far as we could, prepared ourselves and when the tasks came, +we volunteered in tens of thousands, every kind of woman, young, old, +middle-aged, rich and poor, trained and untrained, and today we have +1,250,000 women in industry directly replacing men, 1,000,000 in +munitions, 83,000 additional women in Government Departments, 258,300 +whole and part-time women workers on the land. We are recruiting women +for the Women's Army Auxiliary Corps at the rate of 10,000 a month and +we have initiated a Women's Royal Naval Service. We have had the help +of about 60,000 V.A.D.'s (Voluntary Aid Detachment of Red Cross) in +Hospitals in England and France, and on our other fronts, in addition +to our thousands of trained nurses. + +The women in our homes carry on--no easy task in these days of +shortages in food and coal and all the other difficulties, saving, +conserving, working, caring for the children, with so many babies +whose fathers have never seen them, though they are one to two years +old, and so many babies who will never see their fathers. + +Some of our women have died on active service, doctors, nurses and +orderlies. Our most recent and greatest loss is in the death of Dr. +Elsie Inglis, the initiator of the Scottish Women's Hospitals, who +died on November 26th, three days after she had safely brought back +her Unit from South Russia, which had been nursing the Serbians +attached to the Russian army. + +One who was with her at the end writes, "It was a great triumphant +going forth." There was no hesitation, no fear. As soon as she knew +she was going, that the call had come, with her wonted decision of +character, she just readjusted her whole outlook. "For a long time I +_meant_ to live," she said, "but now I know I am going. It is so nice +to think of beginning a new job over there! But I would have liked to +have finished one or two jobs here first!" + +She told us the story of the breaking of their moorings as they lay in +the river in a great storm of wind and of how that breaking had saved +them from colliding with another ship. "I asked," she said, "what had +happened." Someone said "Our moorings broke." I said, "No, a hand cut +them!" Then, after a moment's silence, with an expression in face and +voice which it is utterly impossible to convey, she added, "That same +Hand is cutting my moorings now, and I am going forth!" The picture +rose before you of an unfettered ship going out to the wide sea and of +the great untrammelled, unhindered soul moving majestically onwards. + +[Illustration: MISS EDITH CAVELL] + +[Illustration: DR. ELSIE INGLIS] + +There was no fear, no death! How could there be. She never thought of +her own work--she knew unity. "You did magnificently," was said to her +within an hour of her going. With all her wonted assurance and with a +touch of pride she answered, "My Unit did magnificently." + +Her loss is irreparable to us, but there is no room for sorrow. She +leaves us triumph, victory, and peace. + +Edith Cavell's name is another that shines upon our roll of +honour--the same serene great spirit--no thought of self, but only a +great love and desire to serve--and a great fearlessness. Her message, +before she went out alone at dawn to her death, which added another +stain to the enemy's pages dark with blood, was the message of one who +saw the eternal verities, the things worth living and dying for. + +Our men's Roll of Honor is a heavy Roll. We have lost in killed and +permanently out of the army, a million men and over 75 per cent of our +casualties are our own Island losses. Our women in every village and +in every city street have lost husbands, fathers, brothers, lovers and +friends. From every rank of life our men have died, the agricultural +labourer, the city clerk, the railway man, the miner, the engineer, +the business man, the poet, the journalist, the author, the artist, +the scientist, the heirs of great names, many of the most brilliant +of our young men. We comb out our mines and shipyards, and factories, +ceaselessly for more men. Our boys at eighteen go into the army. +From eighteen to forty-one every man is liable for service. Our +Universities have only a handful of men in them and these are +the disabled, the unfit, and men from other countries. Oxford and +Cambridge Colleges are full of Officers' Training Corps men. The +Examination Schools and the Town Hall at Oxford are Hospitals, and +Oxford and Cambridge streets are full of the blue-clad wounded, as +are so many of our cities. We are a nation at war, and at war for over +three years and everywhere and in everything we are changed. + +In these years we women have lived always with the shadow of the war +over us--it never leaves us, night or day. We do not live completely +where we are in these days. A bit of us is always with our men on our +many fields of war. We live partly in France and Flanders, in Italy, +in the Balkans, in Egypt and Palestine and Mesopotamia, in Africa, +with the lonely white crosses in Gallipoli, with our men who guard us +sleeping and waking, going down to the sea in ships and under the sea, +fighting death in submarines and mines, and with those who in the air +are the eyes and the winged cavalry of our forces. + +We mourn our dead, not sadly and hopelessly, though life for many of +us is emptier forever, and for many so much harder, and we wear very +little mourning. We mourn silently, and with a sure faith that our +men's supreme sacrifice is not in vain. "Greater love hath no man +than this, that he lay down his life for his friend." The little white +crosses of our graves symbolize the faith for which they die. + +The message of our soldier poets who have been created by this war +and have written immortal verse, and many of whom have died, is the +message of men who have seen through the veils of time into eternity, +who are free of life and death, whom nothing can hurt, "if it be not +the Destined Will." + +The veils of time grow thin in these days to those of us who take +Death into our reckoning all the time. We think of our men gone on +ahead as eternally young. + + "Solemn the drums thrill; Death august and royal + Sings sorrow up into immortal spheres. + There is music in the midst of desolation + And a glory that shines before our tears. + + * * * * * + + "They shall not grow old, as we that are left grow old + Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn. + At the going down of the Sun and in the morning + We will remember them." + +We know, too, though we do not often define it, that the forces we +women fight in the enemy are the forces that have left women out in +world affairs. + +Germany is the Fatherland, never, it is significant, the Motherland +as our little Islands are, and its mad dream of militarism and +_Weltmacht_ is the dream of men who deny any constructive part to +women in the great affairs of life. The hopes of all the democracies +are bound up in this struggle and its issue, and there is no real +place in the world for the true service and genius and work of women, +any more than for that of the mass of men, save in democracy. We mean +so much in these days by democracy. It seems to be indefinable in its +larger meanings. It is not a system of government, but, on the other +hand, no country can be called democratic that has not established +political freedom, and no country is truly democratic in which such +freedom is only in name, and its women are not included or a group +rule or the demagogue and the worst kind of politician hold sway. + +Democracy is not here till all serve and all are given opportunities +so that they have something of value to give to their country and +to the world. Democracy is the ever changing, ever developing, ever +creative spirit of man expressing itself in his institutions and +systems of government and relationships. + +Its quarrel with our enemies, who would impose on the mass of men +cast-iron systems, and would set up state idols to be worshipped as +higher than the Conscience and spirit of man, is so profound and goes +so deeply into knowledge and feelings that are too big for words, that +the soldier who never tries to express it but goes out and drills and +works and disciplines himself that he may present his body as a living +shield for the faith that is within him, and the woman who works with +him and behind him, healing and giving, silently, are perhaps wisest +of all. + +It is no time for words only, though right words are mighty powers, +but for living faith in deeds and the spirit of the women of all our +allied countries is swift to answer the challenge--by their works +shall ye know them. + +The spirit of our women shows, like that of the French women who +tend their farms, keep their shops, work ceaselessly everywhere, most +clearly and wonderfully in their work. In our hundreds of hospitals +night and day, they care for the wounded and the sick and the dying, +bringing consolation, love, skill, heroism, patience and all fine +things as their gift. From myriads of homes they pour forth to +their daily toil, carrying on the work of the country, educating the +children, taking the place of their men on the railways, the factory, +the workshop, the banks and offices. In the munition works, in the +shipyards, in the engineering shops, in the aeroplane sheds, they +work in tens of thousands--risking life and health in some cases, +but thinking little of it, compared with what their men are doing, +knee-deep in snow and mud and water in the trenches. "Is the work +heavy?" you ask. "Not so heavy as the soldiers'." "Are the hours +long?" "Six days and nights in the trenches are longer." "We are going +to win and you are going to help us"--and the munition girl and the +land girl and the workers answer not only with cheers and words but +answer with shells and ships and aeroplanes and submarines and food +produced and conserved, and in industrial tasks done by men and women +together. + +The enemy airships and aeroplanes bomb our cities but our girls "carry +on"--no telephone girl has left her post--there have been no panics in +our workshops. + +And the spirit of the Waac--the khaki girl--is the spirit of her +brother. + +On one occasion in France in an air raid, enemy bombs came very near +some girl signallers. They behaved splendidly and someone suggested +it should be mentioned in the Orders of the Day. "No," said the +Commanding Officer, "we don't mention soldiers in orders for doing +their duty,"--and that tribute to their attitude is deserved and the +right one. + +And, like our men, we carry on cheerfully, knowing there is only one +possible end, victory. We fight for the sanctity of the given word, +for honour, for the rights of individuals and nations, for the ideals +that have preserved humanity from barbarism, for the right of service, +for the salvation of common humanity. + +More, we women work with a feeling in our hearts that we, who bear +and cherish life, and to whom its destruction is most terrible, have +a great work to do and a great part to play in the settlement of the +problem of war in the future. + +The transmutation of the struggles of mankind from the physical to the +spiritual, the solution of national and international problems, the +solution of all the riddles of life that demand an answer or man's +conquest, cannot be done by man alone. It is our task also and to +the great work of building up a new world after we emerge from this +crucible of fire in which the souls of the nations are being tested, +the spirit of women has much to bring. + + + + +ORGANIZATION AND ITS PITFALLS + + "The more they gazed, the more their wonder grew + That one small head could carry all she knew." + + + + +CHAPTER II + +ORGANIZATION AND ITS PITFALLS + + +There are people who declare that the winning of this war depends on +organization alone. That is palpably untrue. Good organization can do +much. The greatest thing in all organizations is the living flame that +makes grouping real--the selfless spirit of service that the fighting +man possesses and that is beyond all words of praise. + +Talk to a soldier or a sailor, realize how he thinks and +feels about his ship, his battalion, his aircorps. He is +subordinated--selfless--disciplined. The secret of the good soldiers' +achievements and his greatness is selfless service and in our national +organizations behind him that same spirit is the one great thing that +counts. + +If you have that as a foundation among your workers, organization is +easy. + +We found, at the beginning of the war, a great tendency among women to +rush into direct war work. Masses of women wanted to leave work they +knew everything about to go and do work they knew nothing about. +One thing we have realized, that the trained and educated woman is +invaluable, that the best service you can render your country is to do +the work you know best and are trained for, if it is, as it frequently +is, important civic work. Another point, no younger woman should stop +her education or training--it is the greatest mistake possible. The +war is not over and even when it is, the great task of reconstruction +lies ahead and we want every trained woman we can get for that. Our +women are in Universities and Colleges in greater numbers than ever, +and more opportunities for education, in Medicine in particular have +been opened to them. + +The trained woman makes the best worker in practically every +department and is particularly useful in organizing. A scheme that +is only indifferently good but, so far as it goes, is on right lines, +well organized and directed, will be more valuable and get far better +results than a perfect scheme badly organized and run. An organization +or a committee that has a woman as Chairman, President or Secretary, +who insists on running everything and deciding everything for herself, +is bound for disaster. + +I should certainly place the will and ability to delegate authority +high up in the qualifications a good organizer must possess. + +We cannot afford to have little petty jealousies, social, local, and +individual, on war committees or any other for that matter, but in +this big struggle, they are particularly petty and unworthy. + +We have all met frequently the kind of person who tells you, "This +village will never work with that village," or "Mrs. This will never +work with Mrs. That. They never do"; and I always answer, "Isn't it +time they learned to, when their boys die in the trenches together, +why shouldn't they work together," and they always do when it is put +to them. + +There is no difficulty in getting women to work together in our +country. We have a link in our Roll of Honor that is more unifying +than any words or arguments or appeals can be. Our women of every rank +of life are closely drawn together. + +The appeal to women is to organize for National Service and to realize +that work of national importance is likely not to be at all important +work. + +The women in important places in all our countries will be few in +proportion, but the struggle will be won in the Nation, as in the +Army, by the army of the myriads of faithful workers faithfully +performing tasks of drudgery and quiet service--and a realization of +this is the greatest need. + +Sticking to the work is of supreme importance. We do not want people +who take up something with great enthusiasm and drop it in a few +months. Nothing is achieved by that. + +The good organizer sees her workers do not "grow weary in well doing." + +Another important work in organization is to prevent waste of +material, effort and money, by co-ordination whenever possible, +though I should say, as a broad principle, co-ordination should not +be carried to the point of merging together kinds of work that make +a different appeal for work and money and require different treatment +and knowledge and powers. The best results are reached by securing +concentration of appeal and organization on one big issue and getting +the work done by a group directly and keenly interested in the one big +thing and with enthusiasm for it and knowledge of it. + +In the personnel of committees and their composition our women have +made it a definite policy to secure the appointment of women to all +Government and National Committees on which our presence would be +useful and on which we ought to be represented and we always prefer +committees of men and women together, unless it be for anything that +is distinctly better served by women's committees. + +There is one pitfall in organization into which women fall more +readily than men in my experience. Our instinct as women is to want +to make everything perfect. We instinctively run to detail and to a +desire for absolute accuracy and perfection. + +This is invaluable in many ways, but in organizing on a big scale +may be a serious fault. There must, of course, be method, order +and accuracy, but the great essential to secure in big things is +harmonious working--not to insist on a rigid sameness but to allow for +widely divergent views and attitudes and ways of doing things so long +as the essential rules are observed. We should not insist too much +on identity in the way of work of different places and districts. +In essentials--unity; in non-essentials, liberty; in all things, +charity--that might well be the wise organizer's motto. + +The supplementing of governmental organization by national voluntary +organization is a great piece of work and in the beginning of the war, +and still, many of our organizations, voluntary or semi-official in +character, were of great service. The work of the Soldiers and Sailors +Families' Association is an example. The S. and S.F.A. had been +created in the South African War and in peace time and war time looked +after the dependants of the soldier and sailor. Its committees were +composed of men and women--and it administered voluntary funds and +later grants from the National Relief Fund, raised at the outbreak of +war. + +When war broke out, all the Reservists were called up and our men +volunteered in tens of thousands. The pay offices of the army, being +small like everything else in our army, could not cope quickly with +the numbers of claims for allowances pouring in, but the S. and S.F.A. +stepped into the breach and looked after the dependants. It secured +vast numbers more of women in every town and village who visited every +dependant and looked after them. They advanced the allowances which +were paid back to them later--and this started in the first week of +the war. They gave additional grants in certain hard cases for rent, +sickness or in event of deaths in family at home. Every home was +visited and no dependant needed to be in distress or want--S. and +S.F.A. offices existed in every town and representatives in every +village and any difficulty or trouble could be brought to them. The +whole of this work is done voluntarily. In some cases workrooms were +started from which sewing and knitting for soldiers and sailors were +given to the dependents and paid for. It was not only the money and +practical help that was of great service--the S. and S.F.A. visitor to +the soldier's wife and mother brought sympathy and help and interest. + +Another movement for soldiers and sailors dependents was the founding +of clubs for them in many towns. One hundred and thirty-five of these +clubs are linked up now in the United Services Clubs League. They are +bright, cheery rooms in which the women can find newspapers, books, +music, amusement, and opportunity to sew or knit comforts, can meet +their friends and talk. + +The Royal Patriotic Fund was another semi-official organization which +was run voluntarily, gave grants at death of soldier or sailor and +administered pensions. It is now entirely merged in the Naval and +Military War Pensions Statutory Committee and local committees set +up in January, 1916, which administer all grants, pensions, wound +gratuities, etc., and looks after dependants. + +Women sit on the Statutory Committee and there must be women members +on every County, Borough and City War Pensions Committee in our +country. + +The organization of war charities is now in England controlled by the +War Charities Committee appointed by the Government in April, 1916. +The committee controls not only what could be strictly termed War +Charities, but all war agencies of any kind for which appeals for +funds are made to the public. These organizations must be registered +and approved by the committee, and their accounts must be open to +inspection and audit. This was a wise and necessary step, not so much +because of actual fraudulent appeals--there has been practically none +of that, but there was a certain amount of overlapping and of waste of +money, material and energy, and some very few organizations in which +an undue proportion of funds raised was absorbed in expenses. Comforts +for soldiers and prisoners of war parcels are also now co-ordinated +under two national committees. + +The first work of registering Belgian refugees and of providing French +and Flemish interpreters was done by a voluntary organization--the +London Society for Women's Suffrage (a branch of N.U.W.S.S.), which +has always been notable for its admirable organization. It provided +150 interpreters for this work in a few days, and work was carried on +at all the London Centres from early morning till midnight. When the +Government took over the charge of Belgian refugees, the system of +registration used by the London Society was adopted without change by +them and the organizer in charge was taken over also and put in a very +responsible position at the War Refugees Committee's Headquarters. + +The work of our Government Employment Exchanges (which were +established before the War by the Board of Trade) and are now under +the Ministry of Labour--has been supplemented by various Professional +Women's Bureaus, by the compiling of a Professional Women's Register, +secured through Universities, Colleges, Headmistresses' Association, +etc., and by the setting up of the Women's Service Bureau by the +London Society for Women Suffrage (N.U.W.S.S.). Various women's +organizations have established most valuable clearing houses for +voluntary workers in Scotland and England and Wales. The Women's +Service Bureau has dealt with 40,000 applications for voluntary and +paid work--mostly paid. Its interviewers take the greatest trouble to +place these applicants suitably, and to find out just what they can do +or would be good at doing. + +Our biggest Government arsenal secured their first munition +supervisors through it--and the Government Departments, big firms, +factories, organizations, banks, workshops, institutions of any kind, +send to it for workers. + +It not only finds these posts without charge--it is supported entirely +by voluntary contribution--but it has a loan and grant fund to enable +women and girls without money to pay for training and maintenance. + +Its records and the letters in its flies provide reading that is +as absorbing as any novel, and it was one of the wise agencies that +realized the older woman had a place and could help as well as the +younger ones. + +To find the person and the post and to put them together is its +fascinating and admirably done task. + +The organization done by women in Britain has been notable and +admirable. + +I can only touch on some of it and must leave out much, but it is +worth while noting that there has been very little overlapping in the +work. The total percentage of overlapping was estimated by the War +Charities Committee on their investigation at 10 per cent and of that +only a very small amount was due to women. + + + + +WOMEN HAVE SERVED OR ARE SERVING ON THE FOLLOWING GOVERNMENT +COMMITTEES. + + +Belgian Refugees' Committee. 1914. + +Clerical and Commercial Occupation Committee, do (Scotland.) 1915. + +Disabled Officers and Men. + +Education After the War. April, 1916. + +Educational Reform. (August, 1916.) + +Food, Committee of Inquiry Into High Cost of--June, 1916. + +Advisory Committee on Women in Industry. March, 1916. + +Labor Commission to Deal with Industrial Unrest. (Ministry of Labor.) +June, 1917. + +Munitions Central Labor Supply Committee. + +Munitions, Arbitration Tribunals. + +Munitions, Committee on the Supply and Organization of Women's Service +in Canteens, Hostels, Clubs, etc. December, 1916. + +Naval and Military War Pensions Statutory Committee. January, 1916. + +Nurses, Supply of--October, 1916. + +Polish Victims' Relief Fund. + +Prevention and Relief of Distress. 1914. + +Professional Classes Sub-Committee. + +Prisoners of War Help Committee. + +Reconstruction Committee. (To advise the Government on the many +national problems which will arise at the end of the war.) 1916. + +Shops: Committee of Inquiry, to Consider Conditions of Retail Trade to +Secure the Enlistment of Men. (November, 1915.) + +Teachers' Salaries. Departmental Committee of Enquiry. June, 1917. + +War Charities. April, 1916. + +National War Savings Committee. April, 1916. + + +COMMITTEES EXCLUSIVELY COMPOSED OF WOMEN. + +Committee, Report on Joint Standing Industrial Councils. 1917. + +Women's Wages Committee. 1917. + +Central Committee on Women's Employment. 1914. + +Drinking Among Women, Committee of Enquiry. November, 1915. + +There are also two women on the-- + +Executive Committee of National Relief Fund. + +Ministry of Food has two women Co-Directors-- + + Mrs. C.S. Peel + Mrs. Pember Reeves + + + + +HOSPITALS--RED CROSS--V.A.D. + + "Come, ye blessed of my Father; + I was sick and ye visited me." + + --MATT., Chap. 25. + + + "A lady with a lamp shall stand + In the great history of the land, + A noble type of good + Heroic womanhood." + + --H.W. LONGFELLOW, "To Florence Nightingale." + + + + +CHAPTER III + +HOSPITALS--RED CROSS--V.A.D. + + +When war broke out on August 4, 1914, probably the only women in our +country who knew exactly how they could help, and would be used in the +war, were our nurses in the Navy and Army nursing services. + +In the Army, Queen Alexandra's Imperial Military Nursing Service +had in it at that time about 280 members, matrons, sisters and staff +nurses, Miss Becher, R.R.C., being Matron-in-Chief for Military +Hospitals. The Q.A.I.M.N.S. had a large Reserve which was also +immediately called out and these nurses were used at once, six parties +being sent to France and Belgium by August 20th. + +The Second Branch was the Territorial Force Nursing Service, which was +in 1914 eight years old. It was initiated by Miss Haldane and a draft +scheme of an establishment of nurses willing to serve in general +hospitals in the event of the Territorial Forces being mobilized, was +submitted at a meeting held in Miss Haldane's house, Sir Alfred Keogh, +Medical Director General, being present. This scheme was approved and +an Advisory Council appointed at the War Office. + +The Matrons of the largest and most important nurse-training centres +in the Kingdom were appointed as principal matrons (unpaid) and to +them the success of this Force is largely due. They received the +applications of matrons, sisters and nurses willing to join, looked +after their references and submitted them, after approval by the Local +Committee, to the Advisory Council. To their splendid work was due the +ease of the vast mobilization of nurses when war broke out. There were +then 3,000 nurses on their rolls. On August 5th they were called out +and in ten days 23 Territorial General Hospitals in England, Wales and +Scotland were ready to receive the wounded and the nurses were also +ready. + +Each hospital had 520 beds, but this accommodation was quite +inadequate after a few months of war, and the accommodation of +practically every hospital was increased to 1,000 to 3,000 beds and +many Auxiliary Hospitals had to be organized. By June, 1915, the +Territorial Nursing Staff was 4,000 in number and in Hospitals in +France and in Belgium and in clearing stations, there were over 400 +Territorial Nurses as well as Imperial Nurses. + +The Naval Nurses were about 70 in number with a Reserve, and their +Reserve was called up at once also, and they went to their various +Hospitals. The other two great organizations, the British Red Cross +and the order of St. John of Jerusalem, now working together through +the joint committee set up to administer the _Times_ Fund for the Red +Cross, which has reached over $30,000,000, had their schemes also. In +time of war they are controlled by the War Office and Admiralty. The +Red Cross had, since 1909, organized Voluntary Aid Detachments to +give voluntary aid to the sick and wounded in the event of war in home +territory. There were 60,000 men and women trained in transport work, +cooking, laundry, first aid and home nursing. St. John's ambulance had +the same system of ambulance workers and V.A.D.'s to call on. + +As the war proceeded it was quite clear that the nursing staffs, +though we had secured 3,000 more trained nurses through the Red Cross +in the first few weeks of the war, would be quite inadequate, and it +was found necessary to use V.A.D.'s and to open V.A.D. Hospitals, +most of them being established in large private houses lent for the +purpose. Within nine months there were 800 of these at work in every +part of England, Scotland and Wales. The V.A.D.'s suffered a little +at first from confusion with the ladies who insisted on rushing off to +France after taking a ten day's course in first aid. We had suffered +a great deal from that kind of thing in the South African War and +were determined to have no repetition of it, so they were firmly and +decisively removed from France without delay. + +[Illustration: FIRST AMBULANCE ON DUTY IN THE FIRST ZEPPELIN RAID ON +LONDON] + +To get more trained nurses, rules were relaxed and the age limit +raised. Many nurses, retired and married, returned to work, but very +quickly it was perfectly clear our trained nurses were inadequate in +number for the great work before us, and in less than a year in most +hospitals every ward had one V.A.D. worker assisting who had been +nominated by her Commandant and County Director, and in March, 1915, +the Hospitals were asked by the Director General of the Army Medical +Service to train V.A.D.'s in large numbers as probationers, for +three or six months, to fit them for work under trained nurses. +Every possible woman, trained or partially trained, was mobilized and +thousands have been trained during the three years of war, and V.A.D. +members have been drafted to military and Red Cross Hospitals, abroad +and at home, in addition to doing the work of the V.A.D. Hospitals. A +V.A.D. Hospital with a hundred beds will have two trained nurses, and +all the other work is done by V.A.D.'s. The Commandant-in-Chief now +is Lady Ampthill. Dame Katharine Furse was Commandant-in-Chief until +quite recently, but is now head of the new Women's Royal Navy Service. + +Many have gone to France and done distinguished work and there is no +body of women in our country who have done more faithful and useful +work than our V.A.D.'s, who nurse, cook and wash dishes, serve meals, +scrub the floors, look after the linen and do everything for the +comfort and welfare of our men, with a capacity, zeal and endurance +beyond praise. About 60,000 women have helped in this way. Our nurses +and V.A.D.'s have distinguished themselves at home and abroad. +They have been in casualty lists on all our fronts. They have been +decorated for bravery and for heroic work. The full value of all +they have done cannot yet be appraised. They have spent themselves +unceasingly in caring for our men. They have nursed them with shells +falling around. Hospitals have frequently been shelled and in one +case two nurses worked in a theatre, wearing steel helmets during the +bombardment, with patients who were under anaesthetics and could not +be moved. They have waited out beside men who could not be got in from +under shell fire of the enemy until darkness fell. Two V.A.D. nurses +in another raid saw to the removal of all their patients to cellars +and, while they themselves were entering the cellars after everyone +was safe, bombs fell upon the building they had just left and +completely demolished it. Some of our nurses have died of typhus. They +have been wounded in Hospitals and on Hospital Trains, and they have +done all their work as cheerfully and with the same high courage +as our men have. We have had helping us in our nursing numbers of +Canadian nurses, not only for the beautiful Canadian Hospital at +Beechborough Park, but for many other Hospitals in England and France, +and nurses from Australia and New Zealand. + +We have had American nurses, also, but these will now be absorbed, as +needed, by the American Army in France. + +The records of our Medical women in the war are among the very best. +The belief that nursing was woman's work but that medicine and surgery +were not, was dying before the war, but it existed, and it was the +war that gave it the final death blow. Immediately war broke out Dr. +Louisa Garrett Anderson, a daughter of our pioneer woman doctor, Dr. +Elizabeth Garrett Anderson, and Dr. Flora Murray formed the Women's +Hospital Corps, a complete small unit and offered it to the British +Government. It was refused but accepted by the French Government, +and was established by them at Claridge's Hotel in Paris, where it +did admirable work. Its work aroused the interest and admiration of +the British Royal Army Medical Corps, and they were asked to form a +Hospital at Wimereux, which afterwards amalgamated with the R.A.M.C. +Later Sir Alfred Keogh established them in Endell Street, London, +where they have a Hospital of over 700 beds. The women surgeons and +doctors and staff are graded for purposes of pay in the same way as +men members of R.A.M.C. + +In July, 1916, the War Office asked for the services of 80 medical +women for work at home and abroad, and later for 50 more. + +The Women's Service League sent a unit to Antwerp which did some +excellent work, though it was there only a very short time. The +members of the unit were among the last to leave the city, escaping in +the last car to cross the bridge before it was blown up. + +The work of the Scottish Women's Hospitals, organized by the Scottish +Federation of the Nation Union of Women's Suffrage Societies, and +initiated by Dr. Elsie Inglis, of Edinburgh, would require a volume +to themselves, and American women, who have given so generously and +so freely to them, know a great deal about their work. The first +unit went to Royaumont in France, and established itself at the old +Abbaye there. It stood from the beginning in the very first rank for +efficiency. A leading French expert, Chief of the Pasteur Laboratory +in Paris, speaking of this Hospital, said he had inspected hundreds +of military Hospitals, but not one which commanded his admiration so +completely as this. Another unit was sent to Troyes and was maintained +by the students of Newnham and Girton Colleges. Dr. Elsie Inglis's +greatest work began in April, 1915, when her third unit went to +Serbia, where she may he truly said to have saved the Serbian nation +from despair. The typhus epidemic had at the time of her arrival +carried off one-third of the Serbian Army Medical Corps, and the +epidemic threatened the very existence of the Serbian Army. She +organized four great Hospital Units, initiated every kind of needful +sanitary precaution, looked into every detail, regardless of her +own safety and comfort, hesitating at no task, however loathsome and +terrible. Her constant message to the Serbian Medical Headquarters +Staff was "Tell me where your need is greatest without respect to +difficulties, and we will do our best to help Serbia and her brave +soldiers." + +Two nurses and one of the doctors died of typhus. Miss Margaret Neil +Fraser, the famous golfer, was one of those who died there, and many +beds were endowed in the Second Unit in her memory. + +The Third Serbian Unit when on its way out was commandeered by Lord +Methuen at Malta for service among our own wounded troops, a service +they were glad to render. Later when the Germans and Austrians overran +Serbia, one of the Units retreated with the Serbian Army, but the +one in which Dr. Inglis was, remained at Kralijevo where she refused +to leave her Serbian wounded, knowing they would die without her +care. She was captured with her staff and, after difficulties and +indignities and discomforts, were released by the Austrians and +returned through Switzerland to England. On her return she urged +the War Office to send her, and her Unit, to Mesopotamia. Rumors had +already reached England of the terrible state of things there from +the medical point of view, which was fully revealed later by the +Mesopotamian Commission. She was refused permission to go, though it +is perfectly clear their assistance would have been invaluable and +ought to have been used. Once more she returned to help the Serbians +and established Units in the Balkans and South Russia. The Serbian +people have shown every token of gratitude and of honor which it +was in their power to bestow upon her. The people in 1916 put up a +fountain in her honor at Mladenovatz, and the Serbian Crown Prince +conferred on her the highest honor Serbia has to give, the First Order +of the White Eagle. Dr. Inglis died, on November 26th, three days +after bringing her Unit safely home from South Russia. Memorial +services were held in her honor at St. Margaret's, Westminster, and +in St. Giles's Cathedral, Edinburgh. Those who were there speak of +it not as a funeral but as a triumph. The streets were thronged; all +Edinburgh turned out to do her homage as she went to her last resting +place. The Scottish Command was represented and lent the gun-carriage +on which the coffin was borne and the Union Jack which covered it. + +[Illustration: "SOMEWHERE IN FRANCE"] + +In the Cathedral the Rev. Dr. Wallace Williamson, Dean of the Order of +The Thistle, said: "We are assembled this day with sad but proud and +grateful hearts to remember before God a very dear and noble lady, +our beloved sister, Elsie Inglis, who has been called to her rest. We +mourn only for ourselves, not for her. She has died as she lived, in +the clear light of faith and self-forgetfulness, and now her name is +linked forever with the great souls who have led the van of womanly +service for God and man. A wondrous union of strength and tenderness, +of courage and sweetness, she remains for us a bright and noble memory +of high devotion and stainless honor.... Especially today, in the +presence of representatives of the land for which she died, we think +of her as an immortal link between Serbia and Scotland, and as a +symbol of that high courage which will sustain us, please God, till +that stricken land is once again restored, and till the tragedy of +war is eradicated and crowned with God's great gifts of peace and of +righteousness." + +The National Union of Women's Suffrage Societies also sent the +Millicent Fawcett Unit, named after its honoured President, to Russia +in 1916 to work among the Polish refugees, especially to do maternity +nursing, and work among the children. + +In February a Maternity Unit started work in Petrograd. With an +excellent staff of women doctors, nurses and orderlies, the little +hospital proved a veritable haven of helpfulness to the distressed +refugee mothers. It soon established so good a reputation for its +thorough and disinterested work that the help of the workers was asked +for by the Moscow Union of Zemstovos (Town and Rural Councils) for +Middle Russia and Galicia. + +In May the Millicent Fawcett Hospital Units were sent out and at +Kazan on the Volga a badly needed Children's Hospital for infectious +diseases was opened. The only other hospital in the place was so full +that it had two patients in each bed. They had a fierce fight against +diphtheria and scarlet fever, which in many cases was very bad, and +they succeeded in saving most of the children, who would certainly +have died in their miserable homes. + +In the summer, the Units took over a small hospital at Stara Chilnoe, +a district without a doctor, and they treated not only refugees, +but the peasants who came in daily in crowds from the surrounding +districts. Other Units of the same kind were started in remote +districts and in summer a Holiday Home at Suida was run to which the +women and children could come from the Petrograd Maternity Hospital +for a rest. They also took charge of two hospitals, temporarily +without any medical staff, in a remote part of the Kazan district, +where they were objects of the most intense curiosity. + +The interpreters were kept busy answering questions about the ages, +salaries and husbands of the staff, and the nurses' wrist watches +roused great excitement. + +That their gratitude and kindness was very real, though their notions +of suitability of place and time were primitive, was shown by the gift +of three live hens being dumped, at 4 a.m., on the bed of a sister +sound asleep. + +The final piece of work was the establishing of an infectious Hospital +for peasants and soldiers in Volhynia, sixty miles behind the firing +line in Galicia. This was done at the urgent request of the Zemstovos +Union. + +There they had to deal with a great deal of smallpox and in another +case with scabies which they stamped out in one small village. These +Units left Russia before the recent changes, but their work was +valuable and appreciated, and again American women helped us in +raising the necessary funds, having subscribed $7,500 towards the +Units. + +One of the workers, Ruth Holden, of Radcliffe College, Boston, died in +one of the epidemics. We have had American women, as we have had men, +helping us from the beginning of the war. The American Women's War +Relief Fund most generously offered to fully equip and maintain a +surgical hospital of 250 beds at Oldway House, Paignton, South Devon, +at the beginning of the war, and this offer was gratefully accepted by +the War Office through the Red Cross Society. + +They also gifted six motor ambulances for use at the front--and these +and the hospital have been of the very greatest service to our wounded +men. + +Others of our medical women are with mixed Units, such as The Wounded +Allies' Relief Committee. Dr. Dickinson Berry went out with others in +a Unit from the Royal Free Hospital to help the Serbian Government, +and Dr. Alice Clark is in the Friends' Unit. + +Our medical women have won rich laurels and have established +themselves in their own profession permanently and thoroughly. Behind +the Hospitals, we have the thousands of women who every day are +working at the Hospital Supply Depots of our country. These are +everywhere and nothing is more wonderful than the way in which our +voluntary workers have gone on faithfully working, conforming to +discipline and hours and steady service as conscientiously as any paid +worker. + +The organizing ability displayed by our women in this amounts to +genius. The buying of material, cutting and making up, parcelling, +storing, and packing of gigantic supplies, all the secretarial and +clerical work involved has been the work of women and mostly of women +of the leisured classes, many of them without any previous training. +From the organization of the big schemes of supply down to such work +as the collecting of sphagnum moss, everything that was needed has +been done, and done well. + + + + +"BRINGING 'BLIGHTY' TO THE SOLDIER" + + "It's a long, long way to Tipperary, + But my heart's right there." + + "Cheero." + + + + +CHAPTER IV + +"BRINGING 'BLIGHTY' TO THE SOLDIER" + + +"Blighty" is Home, the British soldiers in India's corruption of the +Hindustanee, and Blighty is a word we all know well now. + +The full records of this are not easy to give--so much has been done. +Perhaps the simplest way is to begin with the soldier at the training +camp and follow him through his soldier's existence. The first work +lies in giving him comforts, and the women of our country still knit +a good deal and in the early days knitted, as you do now to get your +supplies, in trains and tubes and theatres and concerts, and public +meetings. This was happening while many of our working women were +without work and it was felt that this was likely to compete very +seriously with the work of these women. The Queen realized there was +likely to be hardships through this and also that there would probably +be a great waste of material if voluntary effort was not wisely +guided. So she called at Buckingham Palace a committee of women +to consider the position and Queen Mary's Needlework Guild was the +outcome of it. The following official statement, issued on August 21, +1914, intimated the Queen's wishes and policy. + + Queen Mary's Needlework Guild has received representations to + the effect that the provision of garments by voluntary labor + may have the consequence of depriving of their employment + workpeople who would have been engaged for wages in the making + of the same garments for contractors to the Government. A very + large part of the garments collected by the Guild consists, + however, of articles which would not in the ordinary course + have been purchased by the Government. They include additional + comforts for the soldiers and sailors actually serving, and + for the sick and wounded in hospital, clothing for members of + their families who may fall into distress, and clothing to + be distributed by the local committees for the prevention and + relieving of distress among families who may be suffering from + unemployment owing to the war. If these garments were not made + by the voluntary labor of women who are willing to do their + share of work for the country in the best way open to them, + they would not, in the majority of cases, be made at all. The + result would be that families in distress would receive in + the winter no help in the form of clothing, and the soldiers + and the sailors and the men in hospitals would not enjoy + the additional comforts that would be provided. The Guild is + informed that flannel shirts, socks, and cardigan jackets + are a Government issue for soldiers; flannel vest, socks, and + jerseys for sailors; pajama suits, serge gowns for military + hospitals; underclothing, flannel gowns and flannel waistcoats + for naval hospitals. Her Majesty the Queen is most anxious + that work done for the Needlework Guild should not have a + harmful effect on the employment of men, women, and girls in + the trades concerned, and therefore desires that the workers + of the Guild should devote themselves to the making of + garments other than those which would, in the ordinary course, + be bought by the War Office and Admiralty. All kinds of + garments will be needed for distribution in the winter if + there is exceptional distress. + + The Queen would remind those that are assisting the Guild that + garments which are bought from the shops and are sent to the + Guild are equally acceptable, and their purchases would have + the additional advantage of helping to secure the continuance + of employment of women engaged in their manufacture. It is, + however, not desirable that any appeal for funds should be + made for this purpose which would conflict with the collection + of the Prince of Wales's Fund. + +Branches of Queen Mary's Needlework Guild were started everywhere +and the Mayoresses of practically every town in the Kingdom organized +their own towns. Gifts came from all over the world and a book kept +at Friary Court, St. James', records the gifts received from Greater +Britain and the neutral countries. + +The demand for comforts was very great and in ten months the gross +number of articles received was 1,101,105, but this did not represent +anything like all. It was the Queen's wish that the branches of her +Guild should be free to do as they wished in distribution, send to +local regiments, or regiments quartered in the neighborhood, or use +them for local distress. Great care was taken to see there was no +overlapping, and this is secured fully by Sir Edward Ward's Committee. + +Our men have been well looked after in the way of comforts, socks and +mitts and gloves and jerseys, and mufflers and gloves for minesweepers +and helmets, everything they needed, and the Regimental Comforts Funds +and work still exists as well, all co-ordinated now. + +The Fleet has also had fresh vegetables supplied to it the whole time +by a voluntary agency. + +At the Training Camps, in France, in every field of war, we have the +Y.M.C.A., and there is no soldier in these days and no civilian who +does not know the Red Triangle. There are over 1,000 huts in Britain +and over 150 in France. It is the sign that means something to eat and +something warm to drink, somewhere cozy and warm out of the cold and +chill and damp of winter camp and trench, somewhere to write a letter, +somewhere to read and talk, somewhere that brings all of "Blighty" +that can come to the field of war. In our Y.M.C.A. huts, 30,000 +women work. In the camp towns we have also the Guest Houses, run by +voluntary organizations of women. In the Town Halls we have teas and +music and in our houses we entertain overseas troops as our guests. + +Our men move in thousands to and from the front, going and on leave, +moving from one camp to another, and Victoria Station, Charing Cross +and Waterloo are names written deep in our hearts these days. We have +free buffets for our fighting men at all of these, and at all our +London stations and ports, and these are open night and day. All the +money needed is found by voluntary subscriptions. + +Our men come in on the leave train straight from the trenches, loaded +up with equipment, with their rifles canvas-covered to keep them dry +and clean, with Flanders mud caked upon them to the waist, very tired, +with that look they all bring home from the trenches in their eyes, +but in Blighty and trying to forget how soon they have to go back. The +buffets are there for them, and those who have no one to meet them in +London and who have to travel north or west or east to go home, are +met by men and women who direct them where to go by day and motor them +across London to their station at night. The leave trains that get +in on Sunday morning brings Scottish soldiers that cannot leave till +evening, and St. Columba's, Church of Scotland, has stepped into the +breach. The women meet the train, carry off the soldier for breakfast +in the Hall, which is ready, and they entertain them all day. +Thousands have been entertained in this way, and "It's just home," +said one Gordon Highlander. + +The soldier is in France and there he finds we have sent him Blighty, +too--canteens and Y.M.C.A. Huts. Our books and our magazines, +everything we can think of and send, goes to every field of war. + +He is followed where he can be by amusement and entertainment. Concert +parties are arranged by our actors and actresses, and they go out +and sing and act and amuse our men behind the lines. Lena Ashwell has +organized Concert parties and done a great work in this way. + +Such work as Miss McNaughton's, recorded in her "Diary of the War," +and for which she was decorated before her death, largely caused by +overwork, as Lady Dorothie Fielding's ambulance work, for which she +also was decorated, and the work of the "Women of Pervyse" stand out, +even among the wonderful things done by individual women in this war. + +The "Women of Pervyse," Mrs. Knocker, now the Baronnes de T'Serclas, +and Miss Mairi Chisholm, went out with the Field Ambulance Committee, +and were quartered with others at Ghent before and during and after +the siege of Antwerp. When the ambulance trains started to come in +from Antwerp they worked day and night moving the wounded from the +station to the hospitals--they worked for hours under fire moving +wounded, unperturbed and unshaken. + +After the battle of Dixmude and the armies had settled on the +Neuport-Ypres line, Mrs. Knocker started the Pervyse Poste de Secours +Anglis, a dressing station so close to the firing line that the +wounded could literally be lifted to it from the trenches. + +There they have worked and cared for the men in conditions almost +incredible. In February, 1915, they were decorated by King Albert, and +since March they have been permanently attached to the Third Division +of the Belgian Army. + +In June, 1915, they were mentioned in dispatches for saving life under +heavy fire. They have saved hundreds of lives by being where they can +render aid so swiftly, and the military authorities do not move them, +not only because they wish to pay tribute to their valor but because +they are so valuable. + +Most of all, "Blighty" goes to the soldier in his letters and there +is nothing so dear to the soldier as his letters, and nothing is worse +than to have "no mail." The woman who does not write, and the woman +who writes the wrong things, are equally poor things. The woman who +wants to help her man sends him bright cheerful letters, not letters +about difficulties he can't help, and that will only worry him, but +letters with all the news he would like to have, and the messages that +count for so much. Every woman who writes to a soldier has in that an +influence and a power worthy of all her best. Not only our letters but +our thoughts and our prayers are a wall of strength to, and behind our +men. + +In this war some have talked of spiritual manifestations that +saved disaster in our great retreat. In that people may believe or +disbelieve, but no person of intelligence fails to realize the power +of thought, and love, and hope, and the spirit of women can be a +great power to their men in arms. There are so many ways of giving and +sending that none of us need to fail. + +Then he is in it--in the trenches--over the top--and he may be safe +or he may be wounded--a "Blighty one," as our men say, and we get him +home to nurse and care for--or he may make the supreme sacrifice and +only the message goes home. + +To everyone it must go with something of the consolation of the poem +written by Rifleman S. Donald Cox of the London Rifle Brigade. + + "To My Mother--1916 + + "If I should fall, grieve not that one so weak + And poor as I + Should die. + Nay, though thy heart should break, + Think only this: that when at dusk they speak + Of sons and brothers of another one, + Then thou canst say, 'I, too, had a son, + He died for England's sake,'" + +He may be a prisoner and then we follow him again. There are over +40,000 of our men prisoners and we have over 200,000 of the enemy. The +treatment and conditions of our prisoners in Germany were sometimes +terrible--the horrors of Wittenberg we can never forget, and we are +deeply indebted to the American Red Cross, for all it did before +America's entry into the war, for our prisoners. + +From the beginning of the war we have had to feed our prisoners, and +for the first two years parcels of food went from mothers, sisters and +relatives of the men. Regimental Funds were raised and parcels sent +through these. Girls' Clubs and the League of Honour and Churches and +groups of many kinds sent also. The Savoy Association had a large fund +and did a great work. + +Parcels, which must weigh under eleven pounds, go free to prisoners +of war and there are some regulations about what may be sent. Now the +whole work is regulated by the Prisoners of War Help Committee--an +official committee, and parcels are sent out under their supervision +to every man in captivity. + +Books, games and clothing also go out from us. In most of the Camps +and at Ruhleben, where our civilians are interned, studies are carried +on, and classes of instruction, and technical and educative books are +much needed and demanded. Schools and colleges have sent out large +supplies of these. + +We have also raised funds for the Belgian Prisoners of War in Germany. + +We have exchanged prisoners with Germany and have secured the release +and internment in Switzerland of some hundreds of our worst wounded, +and permanently disabled, and tubercular and consumptive men. In +Switzerland, among the beautiful mountains, they are finding happiness +and health again and many of them are working at new trades and +training. + +We sent out their wives to see them and some girls went to marry their +released men. Some of our prisoners have escaped from Germany and +reached us safely after many risks and adventures. + +"Blighty" goes out to our men also in our Chaplains, the "Padres" +of our forces, and many times soldiers have talked to me of their +splendid "Padre" in Gallipoli, or France or Egypt. They have died with +the men, bringing water and help and trying to bring in the wounded. +They have been decorated with the V.C., our highest honor, the simple +bronze cross given "For Valour." They write home to mothers and wives +and relatives of the men who fall, and send last messages and words of +consolation. + +Their task is a great one, for to men who face death all the time, +and see their dearest friends killed beside them, things eternal are +living realities and there are questions for which they want answers. +There is so much the Padre has to give and his messages are listened +to in a new way and words are winged and living where these men are. + +We have so many of our men from overseas among us who are far from +their own homes, and in London we have Clubs for the Canadians, the +Australians, the New Zealanders, for the two together, immortally to +be known as the "Anzacs," and for the South Africans, where they can +all find a bit of home. We have also just opened American Huts and +the beautiful officers' Club at Lord Leconfield's house, lent for the +purpose. + +For the permanently disabled soldier we are doing a great deal. St. +Dunstan's, the wonderful training school for the blind, has been the +very special work of Sir Arthur Pearson, who is himself blind, and +Lady Pearson. + +The Lord Roberts Workshops for the disabled are doing splendid work in +training and bringing hope to seriously crippled men. + +The British Women's Hospital for which our women have raised $500,000, +is on the site of the old Star and Garter Hotel at Richmond, and is to +be for permanently disabled men. + +There, overlooking our beautiful river, men who have been broken in +the wars for us, may find a permanent home in this monument of our +women's love and gratitude. + + + + +WOMAN-POWER FOR MAN-POWER + + + "She seeketh wool, and flax, and worketh willingly with her hands. + She is like the merchant's ships; she bringeth her food from afar. + + * * * * * + + "She girdeth her loins with strength, and strengtheneth her arms. + + * * * * * + + "Strength and honour are her clothing; and she shall rejoice in + time to come." + + --PROV., Chap. 31. + + + + +CHAPTER V + +WOMAN-POWER FOR MAN-POWER + + +The first result of the outbreak of war for women was to throw +thousands of them out of work. + +Nobody knew--not even the ablest financial and commercial men--just +what a great European war was going to mean, and luxury trades ceased +to get orders; women journalists, women writers, women lecturers, and +women workers of every type were thrown out of work and unemployment +was very great. + +A National Relief Fund was started for general distress and the Queen +dealt in the ablest manner with the women's problem. She issued this +appeal: "In the firm belief that prevention of distress is better than +its relief, and employment is better than charity, I have inaugurated +the 'Queen's Work for Women Fund,' Its object is to provide employment +for as many as possible of the women of this country who have been +thrown out of work by the war. I appeal to the women of Great Britain +to help their less fortunate sisters through the fund. + +"MARY R." + +This appeal was instantly responded to and large sums were subscribed. +A very representative Committee of Women was established, with Miss +Mary MacArthur, the well known Trade Union leader, as Hon. Secretary +and the Queen was in daily touch with its work. + +In the dislocation of industry which had caused the committee's +formation, it was found that there was great slackness in one trade or +a part of it and great pressure in other parts of it or other trades. +The problem was to use the unemployed firms and workers for the new +national needs. + +The committee considered it part of their work to endeavor to increase +the number of firms getting Government contracts, and they created a +special Contracts Department, under the direction of Mr. J.J. Mallon, +of the Anti-sweating League. They, as a result, advised in regard +to the placing of contracts and they undertook to get articles for +the Government, or ordered by other sources, manufactured by firms +adversely affected by the war or in their own workrooms. They worked +with the firms accustomed to making men's clothing and now unemployed, +and found that they could easily take military contracts if certain +technical difficulties were removed. They interviewed the War Office +authorities, modifications were suggested and approved and the full +employment in the tailoring trade which followed gave a greatly +improved supply of army clothing. Contracts were secured from the war +office for khaki cloth, blankets, and various kinds of hosiery, and +these were carried out by manufacturers who otherwise would have had +to close down. + +The Queen gave orders for her own gifts to the troops, and +considerable work was done through trade workshops, care being taken +to see that this work was only done where ordinary trade was fully +employed. Two contracts from the War Office, typical of others, were +for 20,000 shirts and for 2,000,000 pairs of army socks. Over 130 +firms received contracts through the committee. + +New openings for trades were tested and the possibility of the +transference of work formerly done in Germany. + +In its Relief Work the committee had its greatest problems. It was +clear that if rates paid were high, women would come in from badly +paid trades, and it was clear that if they sold the work, it would +injure trade--so in the end it was decided to pay a low wage, 11/6 a +week--and to give away, through the right agencies, the garments and +things made in the workrooms. + +The inefficiency of many workers was very clear and training +schemes resulted--for typing, shorthand, in leather work, chair seat +willowing, in cookery, dressmaking and dress-cutting, home nursing, +etc. + +Professional women were helped through various funds and workrooms +were established by other organizations, several being started in +London by the N.U.W.S.S. + +[Illustration: CLEANING A LOCOMOTIVE] + +[Illustration: WOMEN AS CARRIAGE CLEANERS] + +As the months went on women began to be absorbed more and more into +industry. Men were going into the army ceaselessly, our war needs were +growing greater and our women found work opening out more and more. +The Women's Service Bureau had been opened within a week of the +outbreak of war and had done valuable work in placing women, before +the Board of Trade issued its first official appeal to women, +additional to those already in industry, to volunteer for War Service. +It was sent out by Mr. Runciman, President of the Board of Trade, and +read as follows: + + The President of the Board of Trade wishes to call attention + to the fact that in the present emergency, if the full + fighting power of the nation is to be put forth on the field + of battle, the full working power of the nation must be made + available to carry on its essential trades at home. Already, + in certain important occupations there are not enough men and + women to do the work. This shortage will certainly spread + to other occupations as more and more men join the fighting + forces. + + In order to meet both the present and the future needs of + national industry during the war, the Government wish to + obtain particulars of the women available, with or without + previous training, for paid employment. Accordingly, they + invite all women who are prepared, if needed, to take paid + employment of any kind--industrial, agricultural, clerical, + etc.--to enter themselves upon the Register of Women for War + Service which is being prepared by the Board of Trade Labour + Exchanges. + + Any woman living in a town where there is a Labour Exchange + can register by going there in person. If she is not near a + Labour Exchange she can get a form of registration from the + local agency of the Unemployment Fund. Forms will also be sent + out through a number of women's societies. + + The object of registration is to find out what reserve force + of women's labour, trained or untrained, can be made available + if required. As from time to time actual openings for + employment present themselves, notice will be given through + the Labor Exchanges, with full details as to the nature of + work, conditions, and pay, and, so far as special training + is necessary, arrangements will, if possible, be made for the + purpose. + + Any woman who by working helps to release a man or to equip a + man for fighting does national war service. Every woman should + register who is able and willing to take employment. + +The forms were sent out in large numbers through the women's societies +of the country, and it was stated on them that women were wanted +at once for farm-work, dairy work, brush-making, leather stitching, +clothing, machinery and machining for armaments. + +By next day the registrations were 4,000, mostly middle-class women, +and in the first week 20,000 registered and an average of 5,000 a week +after, but the mass of women who registered waited with no real lead +or use of them for a long time. The Government seemed to suffer from +a delusion a great many people have, that if you have enough machinery +and masses of names something is being done, but you do not solve any +problem by registers. You solve it by getting the workers and the work +together. + +The Government had not approached employers at first, but had left +it to them entirely to take the initiative in this great replacement. +This they had to a considerable extent done, using the Labour +Exchanges and the other agencies and women were more and more quickly, +steadily, ceaselessly replacing men. + +The appeals for women for munition work were most swiftly responded to +and educated women volunteered in thousands, as did working girls and +women. + +The question of assisting employment by fitting more women for +commercial and industrial occupations was considered by the +Government, and in October, 1915, the Clerical and Commercial +Occupations Committee was appointed by the Home Office--a similar +committee being set up for Scotland. It arranged with the London +County Council and with local authorities that their Education +Committees should initiate emergency courses all over the country for +training in general clerical work, bookkeeping and office routine. The +courses lasted from three to ten weeks, and the age of the students +varied from eighteen to thirty-five. + +Many free courses were inaugurated by business firms in large London +stores, notably Harrods and Whiteleys, where their courses included +all office and business training. Six week courses of free training +for the grocery trade, for the boot trade, lens making, waiting, +hairdressing, etc., were also given. + +Our woman labor has been found to be quite mobile and girls have moved +in thousands from one part of the country to another, and the munition +girl travelling home on holiday on her special permit is a familiar +figure. + +The registration, placing and moving of our workers is all done by +our Labour Exchanges, now renamed Employment Exchanges and transferred +from the Board of Trade to the Ministry of Labour. + +When the National Service Department was set up, a Women's Branch +was established with Mrs. H.J. Tennant, and Miss Violet Markham as +Co-directors, and they made various appeals, registered women for the +land, munitions, W.A.A.C. and for wood cutting and pitprop making. +A great demonstration of "Women's Service" was held in the Albert +Hall in January 17, 1917, at which Mrs. Tennant and Miss Markham, +Lord Derby, Minister of War; Mr. Prothero, President of the Board of +Agriculture, and Mr. John Hodge, Minister of Labour, spoke and at +which the Queen was present. It was an appeal to women for more work +and a registration of their determination to go on doing all that was +needed. The men's message was one to equals--they asked great things. +A message from Queen Mary was read for the first time at any public +meeting and it was the only occasion on which she has attended one. + +The number of women now in our industry directly replacing men, +according to our latest returns, is over one and a quarter millions. +This does not include domestic service, where our maids grow less and +less numerous and Sir Auckland Geddes, Director of National Service, +tells us he is considering cutting down servants in any establishment +to not more than three, and it does not include very small shops and +firms. + +The processes in industry in which women work are numbered in +hundreds. The War Office in 1916 issued an official memorandum for +the use of Military Representatives and Tribunals setting forth the +processes in which women worked and the trades and occupations, and +giving photographs of women doing unaccustomed and heavy work, to +guide the Tribunals in deciding exemptions of men called up for +Military Service. + +In professional work today women are everywhere. There are 198,000 +women in Government Departments, 83,000 of these new since the war. +They are doing typing, shorthand, and secretarial work, organizing and +executive work. They are in the Censor's office in large numbers and +doing important work at the Census of Production. There are 146,000 on +Local Government work. The woman teacher has invaded that stronghold +of man in England, the Boys' High and Grammar Schools, and is doing +good work there. They are replacing men chemists in works, doing +research, working at dental mechanics, are tracing plans. They are +driving motor cars in large numbers. Our Prime Minister has a woman +chauffeur. They are driving delivery vans and bringing us our goods, +our bread and our milk. They carry a great part of our mail and trudge +through villages and cities with it. They drive our mail vans, and +I know two daughters of a peer who drive mail vans in London. I know +other women who never did any work in their lives who for three years +have worked in factories, taking the same work, the same holidays, the +same pay as the other girls. Women are gardeners, elevator attendants, +commissionaires and conductors on our buses and trams, and in +provincial towns drive many of the electric trams. + +[Illustration: WINDOW CLEANERS] + +[Illustration: STEAM ROLLER DRIVER] + +In the railways they are booking clerks, carriage and engine cleaners +and greasers, and carriage repairers, cooks and waiters in dining +cars, platform, parcel and goods porters, telegraphists and ticket +collectors and inspectors, and labourers and wagon sheet repairers. +They work in quarries, are coal workers, clean ships, are park-keepers +and cinema operators. They are commercial travellers in large numbers. +They are in banks to a great extent and are now taking banking +examinations. + +There was a very strong feeling as the replacement by women went on +that there must be no lowering of wage standards which would not only +be grossly unfair to women but imperil the returning soldier's chance +of getting his post back. + +Mrs. Fawcett, on behalf of the Women's Interests Committee of the +N.U.W.S.S., called a conference on the question of War Service and +wages in 1915, and Mr. Runciman stated at the conference: + + As regards the wages and conditions on which women should be + employed, as a general principle the Exchanges did not, and + could not, take direct responsibility as to the wages and + conditions, beyond giving in each case such information as + was in their possession. In regard, however, to Government + contractors, it had been laid down that the piece rates for + women should be the same as for men, and further special + instructions had been given to the Exchanges to inform + inexperienced applicants of the current wages in each case, + so that they should be fully apprised as to the wage which it + was reasonable for them to ask. A general safeguard against + permanent lowering of wages by the admission of women to take + the place of men on service would be made by asking employers, + so far as possible, to keep the men's places open for them on + their return. + +Wages in most cases are at the same rate as men, and as women are +organized in Britain in large numbers, the Trades Unions and Women's +Committees are always alive and ready to act on the question of +payment and conditions. Our workers, men and women, are very well paid +and despite high prices, were never more comfortable, and never saved +more. The call for women to replace men still goes on in Britain. +Miners are going to be combed out again. The Trade Unions have been +again approached by the Premier and Sir Auckland Geddes on this +question of man power. The Battalions must be filled up--in France we +need 2,000,000 men all the time and of these 1,670,000 are from our +own Islands. + +It is calculated there are in Britain today--Ireland is not tapped in +woman power any more than in man power--less than a million women who +could do more important work for the war than they are now doing. +Most of these are already doing work of one kind or another, but could +probably do more. + +Our homes, our industries, munitions, the land, hospitals, Government +service and the Waac's are absorbing us in our millions. Britain could +not have raised her Army and Navy and could not now keep her men in +the field without the mobilization of her women and their ceaseless, +tireless work behind her men, and as substitutes for them, in the +working life of the community. + + + + +WOMEN IN MUNITIONS + + + "For all we have and are, + For all our children's fate-- + Rise up and meet the war, + The Hun is at the gate. + + * * * * * + + "Comfort, content, delight, + The ages' slow-bought gain, + Have shrivelled in a night, + Only ourselves remain. + + * * * * * + + "Though all we knew depart, + The old commandments stand, + In courage keep your heart, + In strength lift up your hand." + + --RUDYARD KIPLING. + + + + +CHAPTER VI + +WOMEN IN MUNITIONS + + "Hats off to the Women of Britain!"--Sir ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE in + _The Times_, November 28, 1916. + + +When war broke out the Government had three National workshops +producing munitions--today it has 100, and it controls over 5,000 +establishments through the Ministry of Munitions, many of which are +continually growing in size. + +The total output has increased over thirty-fold but in many cases +increase in production has been far greater. In guns, the production +of 4.5 field howitzers is over fifty times as large; of machine guns +and howitzers over seventy times and of heavy howitzers (over 6 inch) +over 420 times as large. + +More small shell is now made in a fortnight than formerly in a year, +and the increase in output of heavy shell has been still larger. +Equally striking results have been attained in the production of +machine guns, aeroplanes motor bodies, and the other war supplies, for +which demand and replacement have necessarily grown with the demand +for guns and shells. To these have to be added the ships and the +anti-submarine and anti-aircraft machines and devices that have been +demanded by the enemy's method of warfare. + +This work has only been possible in a country that has raised five +million men, 75 per cent from our own islands, because of what women +have done. + +Today there are between 800,000 and 1,000,000 women in munitions works +in our country, and the history of their entry and work is a wonderful +one. Women themselves were quicker than the Government to realize how +much they would be needed in munitions, and started to train before +openings were ready. + +Women realized vividly what Lloyd George's speech of June, 1915, made +clear, the urgent, terrible need of our men for more munitions--the +Germans could send over ten shells to our one--and women volunteered +in thousands for munition work. + +The London Society for Women's Suffrage, which was running "Women's +Service," had women volunteers for munitions in enormous numbers and +tried to secure openings for them. It investigated and found that +acetylene welders were badly needed. There were very few in Britain, +and welding is essential for aircraft and other work, so they started +to find out if there were classes for training women, and found none +in Technical Schools were open to women. They found welders were +needed very much in certain aircraft factories in the neighborhood of +London and the manager of one assured them that if women were trained +satisfactorily for oxy-acetylene welding, he would give them a trial. +So "Women's Service" decided to open a small workshop and secured Miss +E.C. Woodward, a metal worker of long standing, as instructor. The +school was started in a small way with six pupils. Oxy-acetylene +welding is the most effective way of securing a perfect weld without +any deleterious effect upon the metal. + +The great heat needed for the purpose of uniting two or more pieces of +metal so as to make of them an autogenous whole is obtained, in this +process, by the burning of acetylene gas in conjunction with oxygen. + +Carbide, looking like little lumps of granite, is placed in a tray at +the bottom of the generator for acetylene gas, which is of the form +of a small portable gasometer. The tap, admitting water to the carbide +trays, is turned on, and gas at once generates, and forces up the +generator in the way so familiar to those who often see a gasometer. +This gas passes through a tube to the blow-pipe of the welder, or to +any other use for which it is destined. + +[Illustration: TRAINING WOMEN AS AEROPLANE BUILDERS] + +In oxy-acetylene welding, the process employs the flame produced by +the combustion in a suitable blow-pipe of oxygen and acetylene. When +a light is applied to the nozzle of the pipe a yellow flame, a foot +long, flares up, and in the centre of it, close to the nozzle, appears +a very small, dazzling, bluish flame, which can only safely be gazed +upon by eyes protected by coloured glasses. The temperature of this +flame at the apex is about 6,300 degrees Fahr., and it is with this +that the metals to be welded together are brought to a suitable degree +of heat. + +The workers' eyes are protected by black goggles, their hair confined +by caps or handkerchiefs, and overalls or leather-aprons protect their +clothes from the sparks and also from the smuts which naturally +accrue on surrounding objects. Each welder holds in her right hand the +blow-pipe of the craft, from which depends two long flexible tubes, +one conducting oxygen from the tall cylinder in the corner, and the +other acetylene from the generator. In her left hand she holds the +welding-stick of soft Swedish iron, from which tiny molten drops fall +upon the glowing edges of the metal to be welded together. The work +is fascinating even to the onlooker, and to see the result, metal so +welded you feel it is impossible it ever could have been two pieces, +is still more fascinating. + +The first welders triumphantly passed their tests and gave every +satisfaction in the factory, and the training went on and the School +was enlarged. + +The oxy-acetylene welders turned out by this School have gone all +over the country and 220 were trained and placed in the first year. +Those selected were, with few exceptions, educated women, which was +undoubtedly a material factor in the success of their work. This +School opened training to women and welding is now taught to women in +many of our Technical Schools. A class in Elementary Engineering has +also been carried on by Women's Service with great success and the +women placed in workshops. + +The Ministry of Munitions has also arranged, in conjunction with the +London County Council and other Educational Authorities, to have +free munition training for women at every centre in the Kingdom. The +courses vary from six to nine weeks and maintenance grants are paid +during the period of training. + +In October, 1915, the Central Labour Supply Committee which dealt +with women's and men's conditions, issued certain recommendations +in Circular L.2. These dealt with the conditions and rates of pay +of women and fully skilled and unskilled men. The provision of this +much-discussed circular that affected women doing skilled work was +in Clause 1, which provides that "Women employed on work customarily +done by fully skilled tradesmen shall be paid the time rates of the +tradesman whose work they undertake." + +These provisions were then only binding on the Government +establishments, and could not be enforced by the Ministry of Munitions +in controlled establishments. On December 31, 1915, a conference +was held between the Prime Minister, the Minister of Munitions and +representatives of the Amalgamated Society of Engineers, when an +agreement in regard to "dilution" was arranged. Circular L. 2 was +adopted at this conference as the basis of the undertaking given by +the Ministry in regard to dilution of labor. An employer under it can +be punished as contravening the Munitions Act if he fails to carry out +the direction of the Minister. The power of enforcing the provisions +of L. 2 were acquired in January, 1916, and it is quite obvious that +in this circular a principle of the greatest importance to men and +women is laid down. Women were wholly averse to being "blacklegs" in +industry. + +The great work of "Dilution" in Munitions--and by dilution we mean +the use in industry of unskilled, semi-skilled and woman labor, so +that highly skilled men may not be used except for the most important +work--is done by the Dilution Department of the Ministry of Munitions, +which issues Dilution of Labour Bulletins and Process Sheets +periodically, showing the work women are doing. A series of +exhibitions of women's work have also been arranged by the Technical +Section of the Labour Supply Department in all the big towns +in England. In Sheffield over 16,000 people came to see the +Exhibition--the largest number of these being foremen and workmen sent +by their firms. + +[Illustration: RIVETTING ON BOILERS] + +[Illustration: FACING BOILER BLUE FLANGES] + +The Exhibitions consist of two main sections, one of which shows +actual samples of munitions made by women, and the other of +photographs of women doing work on apparatus or processes that could +not be shown. A complete Clerget engine, for instance, was lent by the +Air Board to illustrate the final assembly of the numerous parts of +these engines being made wholly or partly by women. In the same way, +many parts of complete Stokes Guns, Vickers Machine Guns and Service +Rifles were exhibited. The exhibits were divided into fifteen groups. +The first group dealing with engines for aircraft. The second group +showed engines for motor cars, tanks, tractors, motor buses, motor +lorries and motor vehicles. + +A separate group consisted of a variety of accessories for internal +combustion engines, including air pump for the Clerget engine, which +is completely manufactured and assembled by women, largely under women +supervision; and magnetos, a very important and accurate industry, +before the war largely in German hands, of which women now undertake +the entire manufacture. + +The fourth group dealt with steam engines, including details of +locomotives, high speed engines, steam winches, and steam turbines. + +The next two groups dealt respectively with guns and components and +with small arms. + +The next three groups included gauges, drills, cutters, punches and +dies, trucks, jigs, tap pieces and general tool-room work. The gauges +included plug, ring, cylinder and screw gauges to the closest degrees +of accuracy, which in practice are verified by the rigid inspection of +the National Physical Laboratory. + +A fair illustration of the accuracy that is habitually required in a +large volume of work is to be seen in the final gauging and inspection +of a screw gauge for a fuse, in which the women inspectors were +described in the catalogue as examining these screws by an optical +projection apparatus, magnifying fifty times, with the help of which +the inspector notes the defects in size and form, and the necessary +corrections. + +The cutting tools included sets of cutters for the manufacture of +shells, as well as twist drills, reamers, milling cutters, gear +cutters, screwing dies, taps and lathe tools. Some of this work is +of high accuracy, and a set of solid screwing dies has the particular +interest that almost all the operations are carried out by women after +they have been in the shop for a fortnight. The general tool-room +work included an exhibit of seventy-one punches and dies for cartridge +making. Another set of dies was shown for small-arms ammunition, and +specimens were also exhibited of chucks, die-heads and other work. + +Two other groups dealt with the metal fittings and wooden structural +parts of aircraft, and to see girls work on these is intensely +interesting--anything more fragile looking and more beautiful than the +long uncovered wing it would be difficult to find. A notable feature +of the metal group was a number of parts that are marked off from +drawings by women working under a woman charge-hand, and themselves +making their own scribing-templates when necessary. Many examples of +welding work were also shown. + +There were Optical Munitions and medical and surgical glass and X-ray +tubes made entirely by women, and the Exhibitions record the progress +of women in Munitions in the most wonderful and striking way. + +Mr. Ben. H. Morgan, Chief Officer, in a recent speech on Munitions and +Production said: + + "Labor had to be found to staff the thousands of factories in + which this stupendous production was to be carried out, and it + has been possible to find it only by subdividing work closely, + and entrusting a large variety of machinery and fitting to + women, with the help of the fullest possible equipment of jigs + and all available appliances for mechanically defining and + facilitating the work, and of instruction by skilled men. + By this means an output has been obtained that will compare + favorably with that of any class of workers in any country. + Comparing, for instance, our women's figures of output on + certain sizes of shell and types of fuses with those of men in + the United States, I found recently that the women's machining + times were not only as good but in many cases better than + those of men in some of the best organized American shops. + + "This is an extraordinary result to have been obtained from + women who, for the most part, had never known either the work + or the discipline of factory life, and were wholly unused + to mechanical operations. More than one circumstance has + doubtless contributed to making it possible; but it is my + assured conviction that foremost among the incentives by + which women have been helped has been their constant thought + of their flesh and blood, their husbands, brothers, sons, + sweethearts, in the trenches. I know a typical example in a + Yorkshire mother, who early in the war sent her only son to + the fighting line. The lad was a skilled mechanic, and she + took his place at his lathe in the Leeds shops where he + worked. She is not only keeping this job going, but her output + on the job she is doing is a record for the whole country." + +The women workers' productions has been admirable and is steady +and continues so. The _Manchester Guardian_ of November 15, 1915, +astounded women and men alike by its announcement that "figures were +produced in proof of the very startling assertion that the output of +the women munition workers is slightly more than double that of men." + +In the latest Dilution of Labour Bulletin this is recorded: + +"A GOOD BEGINNING + + "A firm in the London and South Eastern district making + propellers for aeroplanes has recently begun the employment of + women, and the results are exceeding all expectations. As an + instance it is reported that five women are now doing the work + of scraping, formerly done by six men, with an increase of 70 + per cent in output." + +The way in which managers, foremen and skilled men have trained and +helped the women and work with them cannot be too highly praised--the +success of "dilution"--the ability of women to help their country in +this way, was only possible through the good will and co-operation of +our great Trade Unions and skilled men. + +Women supervisors and examiners are trained at Woolwich, and the first +of these were found by "Women's Service," and we find women control +and manage large numbers of women in the big works extremely well. +One girl of twenty-three, the daughter of a famous engineer, is +controlling the work of 6,000 women who are working on submarines, +guns, aircraft, and all manner of munitions. + +One great engineer who believes in women and women's future in +engineering has started what we might term an engineering college for +women. + +He has built a model factory away in the hills "somewhere in Scotland" +with four tiers of ferro-cement floors. It is built with the idea of +taking 300 women students and eight months after it opened, it had +sixty women students. It is a factory entirely for women, run by, +and to a large extent managed by women, with the exception of two men +instructors. In the ground floor the girls are working at parts of +high power aeroplane engines, under their works superintendent, a +woman who took her Mathematical Tripos at Newnham College, and was +lecturer at one of our girls' public schools. The women rank as +engineer apprentices and their hours are forty-four a week. The first +six months are probationary with pay at 20/- ($5) a week, and the +students are doing extremely well. + +"Women are now part and parcel of our great army," said the Earl of +Derby, on July 13, 1916, "without them it would be impossible for +progress to be made, but with them I believe victory can be assured." + +[Illustration: ROUGH TURNING JACKET FORGING OF 6-POUNDER, HOTCHKISS +GUN] + +Mr. Asquith, too, has paid his tribute to the woman munition maker +and to others who are doing men's work. In a memorable speech on +the Second Reading of the Special Register Bill, he admitted that +the women of this country have rendered as effective service in the +prosecution of the war as any other class of the community. "It is +true they cannot fight in the gross material sense of going out with +rifles and so forth, but they fill our munition factories, they are +doing the work which the men who are fighting had to perform before, +they have taken their places, they are the servants of the State and +they have aided in the most effective way in the prosecution of the +war." + +Our munition women are in the shipyards, the engineering shops, the +aeroplane sheds, the shell shops, flocking in thousands into the +cities, leaving homes and friends to work in the munition cities we +have built since the war. When our great arsenals and factories empty, +women pour out in thousands. Night and day they have worked as the men +have and it has been no easy or light task. We know that still more +will be demanded of us, but we think, as our four million men do, that +these things are well worth doing for the freedom of the souls of the +nations. + +In the munition factories that feeling and conviction burns like a +flame and the enemy who thinks to demoralize our men and our women by +bombing our homes and our workshops finds the workers, men and women, +only made more determined. + +The women handle high explosives in the "danger buildings" for ten and +a half hours in a shift, making and inserting the detonating fuses, +where a slip may result in their own death and that of their comrades. +Working with T.N.T. they turn yellow--hands and face and hair--and +risk poisoning. They are called the "canary girls," and if you ask why +they do it they will tell you it isn't too much to risk when men risk +everything in the trenches--and sometimes the one they cared for most +is in a grave in France or on some other front, and they "carry on." + +The Prime Minister paid a tribute to munition makers in one of his +speeches when he said: + +"I remember perfectly well when I was Minister of Munitions we had +very dangerous work. It involved a special alteration in one +element of our shells. We had to effect that alteration. If we had +manufactured the whole thing anew it would have involved the loss of +hundreds of thousands of rounds of ammunition at a time when we could +not afford it. But the adaptation of the old element with a fuse is a +very dangerous operation, and there were several fatal accidents. It +was all amongst the women workers in the munition factories; there +was never a panic. They stuck to their work. They knew the peril. They +never ran away from it." + + + + +THE PROTECTION OF WOMEN IN INDUSTRY + + + "Are our faces grave, and our eyes intent? + Is every ounce that is in us bent + On the uttermost pitch of accomplishment? + _Though it's long and long the day is._ + Ah! we know what it means if we fool or slack; + --A rifle jammed--and one comes not back; + And we never forget--it's for us they gave. + And so we will slave, and slave, and slave, + Lest the men at the front should rue it. + Their all they gave, and their lives we'll save, + If the hardest of work can do it;-- + _Though it's long and long the day is._" + + --JOHN OXENHAM. + + + + +CHAPTER VII + +THE PROTECTION OF WOMEN IN INDUSTRY + + +The Ministry of Munitions has a great department devoted to the work +of looking after our workers' interests. + +This department of the Ministry was established by Mr. Lloyd George. +Mr. Rowntree, whose work is so well known, was put in charge. + +The health of the Munition Workers' Committee was set up when the +Ministry was established with the concurrence of the Home Secretary, +"To consider and advise on questions of industrial fatigue, hours of +labor, and other matters affecting the personal health and physical +efficiency of workers in munition factories and work shops." + +Sir George Newman, M.D., is chairman of the committee and the two +women members are Mrs. H.J. Tennant and Miss R.E. Squire. Memoranda +on various industrial problems have been drawn up by the committee and +acted upon--the first being on Sunday labour. + +In the early part of the war our men and women frequently worked +seven days in the week and shifts were very long for women as for +men. Practically no holidays were taken in answer to Lord Kitchener's +appeals. The regulations preventing women from working on Sunday had +been removed in a limited number of cases. The investigation of the +committee in November, 1915, showed that Sunday labor when it meant +excessive hours was bad and it did not increase output, that the +strain on foremen and managers in particular was very great, and they +recommended a modification of the policy. + +In a later Memorandum, No. 12, on output in relation to hours of work, +very interesting figures were given, practically all showing increased +output as a result of shorter hours of labor. + +The committee reported in Memorandum No. 5 that it was of the opinion +that continuous work by women in excess of the normal legal limit of +sixty hours per week ought to be discontinued as soon as practicable, +and that the shift system should be used instead of overtime. + +A special Memorandum, No. 4, was entirely concerned with the +employment of women and dealt with hours, conditions, rest and meals, +management and supervision, and it strongly urged every precaution and +protection for women. + +The Welfare Department meantime had started on its work of securing, +training and appointing Welfare Supervisors, Miss Alleyne looking +after that branch of the work. + +The Department was "charged, with the general responsibility of +securing a high standard of conditions" for the workers. + +The growth of the work has been enormous. The Ministry of Munitions +today has large numbers of Welfare Supervisors with every Government +establishment and the controlled establishments have them also. +In Government shops they are paid by the Ministry, in controlled +establishments by the management and their appointment is notified to +the Welfare Department. + +The Ministry has issued a leaflet on "Duties of Welfare Supervisors +for Women," which is given at the end of this chapter. + +It will be seen that the Welfare Worker must be a rather wonderful +person. She must be tactful, know how to handle girls, and be a person +of judgment and decision. We have succeeded in securing a very large +number of admirable women and excellent work is being done. The +Welfare Workers are in their turn inspected by Welfare Inspectors and +Miss Proud, the Chief Inspector in dangerous factories, who sees the +precautions against risk of poisoning from Tri-nitro-toluol, Tetryl, +the aeroplane wing dope, etc., are all carried out by the management, +has written an admirable textbook on welfare work. The country for +this purpose is divided into nine areas, and two women inspectors work +in each. + +Woolwich Arsenal is one of our great centres of women's work and +the Chief Welfare Supervisor there, Miss Lilian Barker, is the most +capable woman Supervisor in Britain, a statesman among Supervisors. +Any visitor to the Arsenal cannot help being struck by the general +impression of contentment, happiness and health of the woman worker +there in her thousands. It is rare to see a sickly face among them, +even among the girls in the Danger Zone. Miss Barker is constantly +adding to her own staff of supervisors and training others for +provincial centres. She and her Assistants interview new hands +and arrange changes and transfers of women. She enquires into +all complaints, advises as to clothing, keeps an eye on the vast +canteen organization of Woolwich, and initiates schemes for +recreation--notices of whist drives, dances and concerts are +constantly up on the boards. The housing of the immigrant workers--no +small problem, she and her assistants deal with. They suggest +improvements in conditions and are awake to signs of illness or +overfatigue. They follow the worker home and look after the young +mother and the sick girl and women. + +Hostels have been built there and all over the country by the +Government and by factory owners, and the Hostel Supervisors have a +big and useful work to do. + +They are very well arranged with a room for each girl and nice rest +rooms, dining rooms and good sickroom accommodations. Rules are cut +down to a minimum. Most Supervisors find out ways of working without +them. + +"Smoking is allowed at this end of the restroom," said one +Superintendent, "but since we have permitted this recreation, it seems +to have fallen out of favour," which seems to show munition girls are +very human. + +Hutments have also been built for married couples. Lodgings are +inspected and when suitable, scheduled for workers coming to the area. +In some cases the management in private factories do not adopt formal +welfare workers but get a woman of the right type and put her in +charge of the female operatives, with generally excellent results. +The value of the influence of this work on our girls cannot be +over-estimated--it is an influence of the very best kind, and our +experiences in munition and welfare work, every class of women working +together, is going to be of great and permanent good. + +[Illustration: AN OFFICIAL BOOKLET FOR MUNITION WORKERS] + +The professional woman and the girls who flock to London in large +numbers for work in Government Departments, must be housed also, and +there are many extremely good Hostels. Bedford House, the old Bedford +College for Women, is now a delightful Hostel run by the Y.W.C.A., +whose work for munition girls deserves very special mention. They had +Hostels over the country before the war and have added to these. They +have set up Clubs all over the country for the girls in munitions and +industry in 150 centres, and these are very much appreciated and used +by thousands of girls. + +The feeding of the munition worker is another great piece of work. +It started, like so many of our things, in voluntary effort. The +conditions of the men and women working all night and without any +possibility of getting anything warm to eat and drink and, exhausted +with their heavy work, made people feel something must be done, and +the first efforts were to send round barrows with hot tea and coffee +and sandwiches, etc. More and more it was realized that the provision +of proper meals for the workers, men and women, was indispensable for +the maintenance of output on which our fighting forces depended for +their very lives--and the Government, the Y.M.C.A., the Y.W.C.A. and +various other agencies, started to establish canteens. The Y.W.C.A. +alone in its canteens serves 80,000 meals a week. Large numbers of +private firms have established their own canteens. + +The Health of Munition Workers Committee reported, in November, 1915, +that it was extremely desirable to establish canteens in every factory +in which it would be useful. Many canteens existed before the war, +but they have been added to enormously and the recommendations of the +committee as to accessibility, attractiveness, form, food and service +carried out. + +The Canteen Committee of the Liquor Control Board who have looked +after this work have issued an admirable official pamphlet, "Feeding +the Munition Worker," in which plans for construction and all details +are given. An ideal canteen should always provide facilities for the +worker to heat his or her own food. + +The prices are very reasonable, and in most cases only cover cost of +food and service, soup and bread is 4 cents--cut from joint and two +vegetables, 12 to 16 cents. + + Puddings, 2 to 4 cents, + Bread and cheese, 3 to 4 cents, + Tea, coffee and cocoa, 2 cents a cup, + +and a variety is arranged in the week's menu. + +The Y.W.C.A. Huts are very popular. In some of them the girls get +dinners for 10 cents, and the dinner includes joint, vegetables and +pudding. + +There are comfortable chairs in them in which girls can rest and +attractive magazines and books to read in the little restrooms. The +workers in charge of these canteens are educated women and the waiting +and service is done by voluntary helpers. There is not only excellent +feeding for our workers in these canteens, but there is great economy +in food and fuel. To cook 400 dinners together is much less wasteful +than to cook them separately, and the cooks in these are generally +trained economists. + +The children, too, are not forgotten. Our welfare workers follow the +young mother home and find out if the children are all right and well +taken care of. We have done even more in the war than before for +our babies and the infant death rate is falling. We have established +excellent creches and nurseries where they are needed. + +It is impossible to overestimate the value of all this work in +industry. The Prime Minister, speaking last year on this subject, +said, "It is a strange irony, but no small compensation, that the +making of weapons of destruction should afford the occasion to +humanize industry. Yet such is the case. Old prejudices have vanished, +new ideas are abroad; employers and workers, the public and the State, +are all favourable to new methods. The opportunity must not be allowed +to slip. It may well be that, when the tumult of war is a distant echo +and the making of munitions a nightmare of the past, the effort now +being made to soften asperities, to secure the welfare of the workers, +and to build a bridge of sympathy and understanding between employer +and employed, will have left behind results of permanent and enduring +value to the workers, to the nation and to mankind at large." + +I am no believer in the gloomy predictions of industrial revolutions +after the war. We will have revolutions--but of the right kind and one +thing has been clearly shown, that the workers of our country are +not only loyal citizens but realize every issue of this conflict as +vividly as anyone else. On their work, men and women, our Navy, our +Army and our country, have depended--and they have not failed us in +any real thing. + + +MINISTRY OF MUNITIONS. + + + +DUTIES OF WELFARE SUPERVISORS FOR WOMEN. + +(Sometimes called EMPLOYMENT SUPERINTENDENTS.) + + + + NOTE.--It is not suggested that all these duties should be + imposed upon the Employment Superintendent directly she is + appointed. The size of the Factory will to a certain extent + determine the scope of her work, and in assigning her duties + regard will of course be had to her professional ability to + cope with them. + + These officers are responsible solely to the firms that employ + them, and in no sense to the Ministry of Munitions. + + + +The experience which has now been obtained in National and other +Factories making munitions of war has demonstrated that the post of +Welfare Supervisor is a valuable asset to Factory management wherever +women are employed. Through this channel attention has been drawn to +conditions of work, previously unnoted, which were inimical to the +well-being of those employed. The following notes have, therefore, +been prepared for the information of employers who have not hitherto +engaged such officers, but who desire to know the position a Welfare +Supervisor should take and the duties and authority which, it is +suggested, might be delegated to her. + + +POSITION. + +It has generally been found convenient that the Welfare Supervisor +should be directly responsible to the General Manager, and should be +given a definite position on the managerial staff in connection with +the Labour Employment Department of the Factory. She is thus able to +refer all matters calling for attention direct to the General Manager, +and may be regarded by him as a liaison between him and the various +Departments dealing with the women employees. + + +DUTIES. + +The duty of a Welfare Supervisor is to obtain and to maintain a +healthy staff of workers and to help in maintaining satisfactory +conditions for the work. + +In order to obtain a staff satisfactory both from the point of view of +health and technical efficiency, it has been found to be an advantage +to bring the Welfare Supervisor into the business of selecting women +and girls for employment. + + +I. THE OBTAINING OF A HEALTHY STAFF. + +Her function is to consider the general health, physical capacity and +character of each applicant. As regards those under 16 years of +age, she could obtain useful advice as to health from the Certifying +Surgeon when he grants Certificates of fitness. The Management can, if +they think fit, empower her to refer for medical advice to their panel +Doctor, other applicants concerning whose general fitness she is in +doubt. This selection of employees furnishes the Welfare Supervisor +with a valuable opportunity for establishing a personal link with the +workers. + +Her function is thus concerned with selection on general grounds, +while the actual engaging of those selected may be carried out by the +Overlooker or other person responsible for the technical side of +the work. In this way both aspects of appointment receive full +consideration. + +The Management may find further that it is useful to consult the +Welfare Supervisor as to promotions of women in the Factory, thus +continuing the principle of regarding not only technical efficiency +but also general considerations in the control of the women in the +Factory. + + +II. THE MAINTAINING OF A HEALTHY STAFF. + +The Welfare Supervisor should ascertain what are the particular needs +of the workers. These needs will then be found to group themselves +under two headings: + + (a) Needs within the Factory--Intramural Welfare. + + (b) Needs outside the Factory--Extramural Welfare. + + +INTRAMURAL WELFARE. + +I. SUPERVISION OF WORKING CONDITIONS. + +The Welfare Supervisor may be made responsible for the following +matters: + + (a) _General behaviour of women and girls inside the + factory._--While responsibility for the technical side of + the work must rest with the Technical Staff, the Welfare + Supervisor should be responsible for all questions of general + behaviour. + + (b) _Transfer._--The Welfare Supervisor would, if the health + of a woman was affected by the particular process on which + she is engaged, be allowed, after having consulted the Foreman + concerned, to suggest to the Management the possibility of + transfer of the woman to work more suited to her state of + health. + + (c) _Night Supervision._--The Welfare Supervisor should have + a deputy for night work and should herself occasionally visit + the Factory at night to see that satisfactory conditions are + maintained. + + (d) _Dismissal._--It will be in keeping with the general + suggestions as to the functions of the Welfare Supervisor + if she is consulted on general grounds with regard to the + dismissal of women and girls. + + (e) _The maintenance of healthy conditions._--This implies + that she should, from the point of view of the health of the + female employees, see to the general cleanliness, ventilation + and warmth of the Factory and keep the Management informed of + the results of her observations. + + (f) _The provision of seats._--She should study working + conditions so as to be able to bring to the notice of the + Management the necessity for the provision of seats where + these are possible. + + +II. CANTEEN. + +Unless the Factory is a small one it would hardly be possible for the +Welfare Supervisor to manage the canteen. The Management will probably +prefer to entrust the matter to an expert who should satisfy the +Management in consultation with the Welfare Supervisor on the +following matters:-- + + (1) That the Canteen provides all the necessary facilities for + the women workers; that is to say, suitable food, rapidly and + punctually served. + + (2) That Canteen facilities are provided when necessary for + the women before they begin work so that no one need start + work without having taken food. + + (3) That the Canteen is as restful and as comfortable as + possible so that it serves a double purpose of providing rest + as well as food. + + +III. SUPERVISION OF AMBULANCE RESTROOM AND FIRST AID. + +While not responsible for actually attending to accidents, except +in small Factories, the Welfare Supervisor should work in close +touch with the Factory Doctor and Nurses. She should, however, be +responsible for the following matters:-- + + (1) She should help in the selection of the Nurses, who should + be recognised as belonging to the Welfare staff. + + (2) While not interfering with the Nurses in the professional + discharge of their duties, she should see that their work is + carried out promptly and that the workers are not kept waiting + long before they receive attention. + + (3) She should supervise the keeping of all records of + accident and illness in the Ambulance Room. + + (4) She should keep in touch with all cases of serious + accident or illness. + +It would further be useful if she were allowed to be kept in touch +with the Compensation Department inside the Factory with a view to +advising on any cases of hardship that may arise. + + +IV. SUPERVISION OF CLOAK-ROOMS AND SANITARY CONVENIENCES. + +The Welfare Supervisor should be held responsible for the following +matters:-- + + (1) General cleanliness. + + (2) Prevention of Loitering. + + (3) Prevention of Pilfering. + +The Management will decide what staff is necessary to assist her, and +it should be her duty to report to the Management on these matters. + + +V. PROVISION OF OVERALLS. + +The Welfare Supervisor should have the duty of supervising the +Protective Clothing supplied to the women for their work. + + +EXTRAMURAL WELFARE. + +The Welfare Supervisor should keep in touch with all outside agencies +responsible for:-- + + (1) Housing. + + (2) Transit facilities. + + (3) Sickness and Maternity cases. + + (4) Recreation. + + (5) Day Nurseries. + +In communicating with any of these agencies it will no doubt be +preferable that she should do so through the Management. + + +III. RECORDS. + +_A_. The Welfare Supervisor should for the purpose of her work have +some personal records of every woman employee. If a card-index system +is adopted, a sample card suggesting the necessary particulars which +it is desirable should be kept by Welfare Supervisors is supplied to +employers on request. + +_B_. The Welfare Supervisor should have some way of observing the +health in relation to the efficiency of the workers, and if the +Management approved this could be done: + + (a) By allowing her to keep in touch with the Wages + Department. She could then watch the rise and fall of wages + earned by individual employees from the point of view that + a steady fall in earnings may be the first indication of an + impending breakdown in health. + + (b) By allowing her to keep in touch with the Time Office she + should be able to obtain records of all reasons for lost time. + From such records information can be obtained of sickness, + inadequate transit and urgent domestic duties, which might + otherwise not be discovered. Here again, if a card-index + system is adopted a sample card for this purpose can be + obtained from the Welfare and Health Section on request. + + (c) By keeping records of all cases of accident and sickness + occurring in the Factory. Sample Ambulance Books and Accident + Record Cards can also be obtained from the Welfare and Health + Section. + + + + +"THE WOMEN'S LAND ARMY" + + + "If it were not for the women, agriculture would be at an + absolute standstill on many farms in England and Wales today." + + --_President of the Board of Agriculture._ + + + + +CHAPTER VIII + +"THE WOMEN'S LAND ARMY" + + +The Land Army of Women, which now numbers over 258,300 whole and +part-time workers, has done splendid work. For some years before the +war women had been very little used on the land in certain parts of +England and Wales. In Scotland and in some of the English counties +there had always been, and still were, quite fair numbers of women on +the land. + +Within eighteen months of the outbreak of war, about 300,000 +agricultural laborers had enlisted and the work had been carried on +with difficulty by the farmer in the first year of the war. The farmer +secured all the labor he could, old men returned to help, and the army +released skilled men temporarily, from training, to help. Soldiers +were used in groups for seasonal work, the farmer paying a good rate +for them. Groups of women were also organized for seasonal work by +various voluntary organizations, two of these being the Land Council +and the Women's National Land Service Corps. The Women's Farm and +Garden Union also did good work. The Land Service Corps made one of +its most important objects the organization of village women into +working gangs under leaders. One interesting piece of work undertaken +by the Corps last year was finding a large number of women for +flax-pulling in Somerset. This the Flax-Growers' Association asked +them to do as sufficient local labor could not be raised. The War +Agricultural Committee made all the local arrangements. This was +pioneer work of great value and importance as flax is essential in the +making of aeroplane wings. + +The Corps sent a group of 100 women under competent gang leaders. +The workers were housed in an empty country house and the War Office +provided bedding. The Y.W.C.A. undertook the catering at the request +of the Corps. The work, which was a great success, consisted in +pulling, gating, wind mowing, stocking and tying flax. + +The Corps has already been asked to undertake this again next year. +Owing to the Russian troubles and the closing of the Port of Riga, it +will be necessary to put many more hundreds of acres under cultivation +and it is probable four or five times as many women will be needed +next year. + +Some of the Corps members are doing good work in Army Remount Depots, +working in the stables and exercising the horses. One of the latest +interesting developments of women's work is in the care of sick +horses, carried out in the Horse Hospital in London. + +Within nine months of the outbreak of war, it was clear we must secure +help for the farmers, in order to enable them to do their work. As the +submarine menace developed, and the supply of grain in the world was +affected by the numbers of men taken away from production, it was +clear we must try to grow more food. + +Our grain production at the best was only twelve weeks of our supply, +and even to keep up to that seemed to be a problem. + +It was clear that in agriculture, as in so many other things, women +must fill up the ranks, and in the first official appeal of the +Government for additional woman labor, the land had an important +place. + +Lord Selborne, President of the Board of Agriculture, drew up a +scheme for the organization of agriculture throughout the country. +It consisted of War Agricultural Committee set up in each county who +look after production, use of land, procuring use of motor machinery, +etc., and of Women's Agricultural Committees. The latter undertake the +organization of securing women workers for the land, choosing them, +and arranging for training and placing out. + +The voluntary groups of women who have been working at the problem in +the war are now practically all merged in the Board of Agriculture's +organization. The Women's Branch of the Food Production Department +now controls and arranged the whole work and Miss Meriel Talbot is the +able chief. + +The Women's Land Corps, like the other organizations, was prepared to +be merged in the new Land Army of the Board and to cease to exist as a +separate organization. Its members were willing to become part of the +new Land Army. + +The Board found there was a distinct need for a voluntary association +which would continue to enroll women, who could not sign on for the +duration of the war, and who were able to forego the benefits of free +training, outfit and travelling given under the Government scheme. +Over 100 members of the Corps did enroll and the original Corps +members do not require to appear before the local Selection Committees +nor to submit references, which marks the Board's confidence in the +Corps. + +Many of the Corps Workers are now organizing Secretaries for the +Counties or Assistant Secretaries, or are travelling Inspectors under +the Board of Agriculture. + +The Corps still organizes the supply of temporary workers for seasonal +jobs such as potato dropping, hoeing, harvesting, fruitpicking, potato +and root lifting, etc., done by groups under leaders. The work of +organizing in the Counties is carried out by the appointment of a +woman as District representative. She is responsible for a general +supervision of the work in all the villages in her district. Each +village has a woman to act as Registrar and her duty (with assistants, +if necessary) is to canvass all the village women and girls for +volunteers for whole and part time work, and for training, and to +canvass the farmer to find out what labour he needs, and in the +beginning they had to induce him to use women. She puts the farmer and +the women suitable for his needs in her own district, in touch with +each other, and passes to the District Representative and to the +Employment Exchanges the names of all women qualified to help and not +placed, and of those willing to train. + +All these committees, registrars and representatives are honorary +workers. The Board of Agriculture appoints to each County for work +with the committee a woman Organizing Secretary, and assistant also +if necessary. + +The Board of Agriculture, working through the Employment Exchanges +and under the direction of their women heads, arranged a series of +meetings and work of propaganda by posters and leaflets throughout +the whole country early in 1916. + +The Representatives and Registrars organized the meetings to which +the farmers and the women were invited, and the whole scheme was +explained. These were very frequently held in the market towns on +market day and the farmer and his wife came in to hear after the +sales. We had to assail the prejudices of some of our farmers pretty +vigorously and of the women, too. We found the women who volunteered +best for land work were in the class above the industrial worker, and +that the comfortable and well educated woman stood its work admirably. + +The farmers were stiff to move in some cases and especially disliked +the idea of having to train the women. "They weren't going to run +after women all day--they had too much to do to go messing round with +girls!" This objection was met by the Board of Agriculture arranging +training centres in every county. Some of the training was done at the +Women's Agricultural Colleges and among places that arranged training +very early were the Harper Adam's College in Shropshire (Swanley); +Garford (Leeds); Sparsholt (Winchester); The Midland Agricultural +Training College (Kingston), and Aberystwith. + +The Women's Agricultural Committee have arranged a great many training +centres at big farms and on the Home farms of some of our estates. + +The girls volunteering for training must be eighteen years of age. +They are interviewed as to suitability and references by the Selection +Committee. They must have a medical certificate filled in by their own +doctor or by one of the committee's doctors. + +[Illustration: BACK TO THE LAND + +WOMEN TACKLE A STRONG MAN'S PROBLEM] + +On being passed, they go to the training centre, the travelling +expenses being paid by the Board. Outfit is free and the uniform is +a very sensible one of breeches, tunic, boots and gaiters or puttees, +and soft hat, breeches, etc., cut to measure for each girl. Training +and maintenance are free and there is always an instructor on the farm +in addition to the farmer and his workers. The travelling to the post +found, is again paid by the Government, and if work is not found at +once, on completion of training, maintenance is paid till it is. + +The training is generally of four to six weeks' duration and in some +cases longer, and over 7,000 women have been trained in this way and +placed. + +Appeals for land recruits were made in February, 1916, and in January +and April, 1917, when the Women's National Service Department asked +for 100,000 women. + +The Land Army women after three months' service receive an official +armlet--a green band with lion rampant in red and a certificate of +honour. The Land women are the only women who receive an armlet--the +munition girl wears a triangular brass brooch with "On war service." + +To induce the conservative farmer to try the women, exhibitions of +farm work were arranged in different part of the country with great +success, and the girls showed they could plough, and weed and hoe +and milk and care for stock, and do all the farm work, except the +heaviest, extremely well. + +The War Office in its official memorandum of 1916 gives a long list of +the farm and garden work in which women are successfully employed, and +they have been particularly successful in the care of stock. + +The farmer who used to declare he would never have a woman and that +they were no use, and who has them now, is always quite pleased and +generally cherishes a profound conviction that the reason why his +women are all right is because he has the most exceptional ones in the +country. + +Housing the worker and especially the groups for seasonal work has +been a problem, but it has been done and the feeding of groups well +has been managed, too. + +The housing conditions for the girl going to work whole-time are +investigated by the Board organizer, and the representatives of +committee. Very frequently a small group of girls have a cottage on +the farm. + +The Inspectors of the Board are in charge of three counties each and +look after all conditions. + +The girls are now being trained to drive the motor tractors for +ploughing, and for women who understand horses there is at present a +greater demand than supply. + +The Women's Branch of the Board is also at this time appealing +for well-educated women to aid in Timber Supply for two pieces of +work--measuring trees when felled, calculating the amount of wood in +the log, and marking off for sawing, and as forewomen to superintend +cross-cutting, felling small timber and coppice and to do the lighter +work of forestry. + +Girls and women are in market gardens and on private gardens in +very large numbers. The King has a great many women in his gardens +and conservatories. Most estates are growing as many vegetables as +possible to supply the many hospitals and the Fleet, and girls are +helping very much in this. A great deal has been done by work in +allotments, plots of land taken up by town dwellers and cultivated. In +one part of South Wales alone 40,000 allotments have been worked and +the allotment holders are organizing themselves co-operatively for +the purchase of seed, etc. We have Governmental powers now not only to +enable Local Authorities to secure unused land for allotments, but to +compel farmers to cultivate all their ground. We have fixed a price +for wheat for five years, and a minimum wage for the agricultural man +and woman. + +The girls on the land improve in health and increase in weight. The +work is not only of supreme usefulness to the country--we have the +submarine ceaselessly gnawing at our shipping and making our burden +heavier--so we must produce everything possible. It has improved the +physique of our girls--they like it, and many will permanently adopt +it. Our Board of Agriculture is also encouraging, for the benefit of +the country woman, the formation of Women's Institutes, like those in +Canada and America. + +In the Lord Mayor's Procession in London, on November 9, 1917, with +the men-in-arms of all our great Commonwealth of Nations, with the +Turks and the captured German aeroplanes and guns, the munition girls +and the Land girls marched. No group in all that great array had +a warmer welcome from our vast crowds than our sensibly clothed, +healthy, happy and supremely useful Land girls. + + + + +WAR SAVINGS--THE MONEY BEHIND THE GUNS + + +"You cannot have absolute equality of sacrifice in a war. That is +impossible. But you can have equal readiness to sacrifice from all. +There are hundreds of thousands who have given their lives, there are +millions who have given up comfortable homes and exchanged them for +a daily communion with death. Multitudes have given up those whom +they loved best. Let the nation as a whole place its comforts, +its luxuries, its indulgences, its elegances, on a national altar, +consecrated by such sacrifices as these men have made." + + --THE PRIME MINISTER. + +"Deep down in the heart of every one of us there is the spirit of +love for our native land, dulled it may be in some cases, perhaps +temporarily obscured, by hardship, injustice and suffering, but it is +there and it remains for us to touch the chord which will bring it to +life; once aroused it will prove irresistible." + + --Sir R.M. KINDERSLEY, K.B.E. + + + + +CHAPTER IX + +WAR SAVINGS--THE MONEY BEHIND THE GUNS + + +To win the war, we must save. There is no task more imperative, +no need more urgent, and there is no greater work than the work of +educating the peoples of our countries, and inducing them to save and +lend to their Governments. + +The first Government Committee set up in Britain to do propaganda work +for war loans was established shortly after the war under the title +of the "Parliamentary War Savings Committee." It did some propaganda +for the early war loans. At the same time a very interesting group of +people associated with the "Round Table," and including in it many +of our most able financiers and economists--such men as the future +chairman of the National War Savings Committee, Sir Robert M. +Kindersley, K.B.E.; C.J. Stewart, the Public Trustee; Hartley Withers, +Lord Sumner, T.L. Gilmour, Theodore Chambers (now Controller of the +National War Savings Committee), Evan Hughes (now Organizer-in-Chief), +Lieut. J.H. Curle, Countess Ferrers, Basil Blackett, C.B.; William +Schooling and Mrs. Minty, Hon. Sec. Excellent articles were written, +leaflets published and meetings held at which many of us spoke +throughout the country, and valuable work was done towards educating +groups of useful people in the country. + +In 1915 a committee was appointed by the House of Commons to go into +the whole question of Loans and Methods. The committee was presided +over by Mr. E.S. Montagu, and its findings were of great interest. It +advised the immediate setting up of a committee whose task it would be +to create machinery by which the small investor might be assisted to +invest in State Securities, and secondly, to educate the country as +a whole on the imperative need of economy. The Lords Commissioners of +His Majesty's Treasury set up the National War Savings Committee in +March, 1916, and in April, 1917, it became a Government Department. +The first chairman was George Barnes, Esq., M.P., but very soon the +chairmanship was taken by Sir Robert Kindersley, a director of the +Bank of England, who has spent himself unceasingly in his great task. + +The committee started its work with a very small staff, Mr. Schooling +being one of the original half-dozen in it, and the schemes and +methods of work were evolved. It works in its organization by setting +up committees. The County is the biggest unit and the Hon. Secretary +of the County works at setting up Local Committees, which are +established in towns with under 20,000 of a population, and we put +a group of parishes together in rural districts under one Local +Committee. All towns, cities and boroughs over 20,000 population are +set up by Headquarters and have Local Central Committees. There are +now in England and Wales over 1,580 of these committees. Scotland +is worked by a separate committee. Linked up to these committees and +represented on them, the War Savings Associations work, and there are +now altogether over 40,000 of these with a weekly subscribing +membership of over 7,000,000 people. + +[Illustration: 6 REASONS + Why YOU Should Save + +1. Because when you save you help our soldiers and sailors. + +2. Because when you spend on things you do not need you help the +Germans. + +3. Because when you spend you make other people work for you, and the +work of every one is wanted now to help our fighting men to win the +war, or to produce necessaries and to make goods for export. + +4. Because by confining your spending to necessaries you relieve the +strain on our ships and docks and railways and make transport cheaper +and quicker. + +5. Because when you spend you make things dearer for everyone, +especially for those who are poorer than yourself. + +6. Because every shilling saved helps twice, first when you don't +spend it and again when you lend it to the Matron. + +POSTER ISSUED BY NATIONAL WAR SAVINGS COMMITTEE] + +The committees also did the propaganda work for the January-February +Loan of 1917, when five billion dollars was raised (£1,000,000,000) +and over eight million people (out of our population of forty-five +millions) subscribed to the loan. + +The work of the committees was admirable at that time and assisted +materially in the success of the loan. + +The National War Savings Committee was also asked by Lord Devonport in +April to assist the Ministry of Food by doing, through its committees, +a great food-saving propaganda. This request was made, because, it was +explained, the War Savings Committees are the best organized and most +thoroughly democratic Government organization in the country. This +propaganda was also done with marked success. In autumn of this year +the committees have done an extensive campaign of education, and of +work to strengthen and enlarge their associations, and also to push +the sale of the new War Bonds. + +The Treasury's policy now is to raise all the money needed by the +wisest borrowing from the people--day by day borrowing. + +The entire work of the committees and associations is done +voluntarily--nothing is paid in the whole country for the work, and +the only charge is Headquarters Staff and propaganda expenses. The +County Secretaries are in most cases Board of Education Inspectors +whom the Board has generously allowed to help. + +The War Saving Association is the body that sells the War Savings +Certificates, which are very much like the American ones. These are +also sold at all Post Offices and Banks. They cost 15/6 each, and in +five years from date of purchase are worth £1. The interest in the +fifth year is at the rate of £5.4.7 per cent. The interest begins at +the end of the first year and the certificates can be cashed at any +time at the Post Office with interest to the date of cashing. The War +Savings Certificate has the additional advantage that its interest +is free of income tax, and in a country where income tax begins above +£120 ($600), and is then at rate of 2/3 in £1 (over 10 per cent) on +earned income and 3/. on unearned, its advantage is very clear. The +interest does not need to be included in income returns--but no one +may buy more than 500 certificates. It is a specially good paying +security intended only for the small saver. + +The War Savings Associations can be set up by any group of people, +ten or upwards, who wish to save co-operatively. They must establish a +committee, small or large. They must appoint a Secretary and Treasurer +and then apply for recognition to their Local Committee, or if there +is not one, to the National Committee. They are given an affiliation +certificate by their committee and receive free all the books, papers, +etc., necessary for carrying on an association. These are all supplied +by the National Committee to Local Committees. + +The 40,000 Associations are in the Army, Navy, Munition Works, +Government establishments, Railways, Banks, Mines, Churches, Shops, +social groups, clubs, men's and women's organizations and 10,000 are +in the schools. The schools, where we receive subscriptions down to +2 cents have done wonderful work and the teachers have done a great +deal to make our movement what it is. We find the children do the best +propaganda in the homes. One teacher, after explaining to his children +what it all meant in the morning, in the afternoon had dozens of +subscriptions, and among them a sovereign which had been clasped +tightly in a hot little hand for a mile and a half's walk. The little +boy said, "I told Mother about it and she gave me that for fighting +the Germans." + +Our Associations have unearthed piles of gold, one village association +alone getting in £750 in gold ($3,750). Old stockings have come +out and one agricultural laborer brought nine sovereigns to one of +our Secretaries one night, and asked her to invest it to help the +soldiers. She said, "Why did you bring it to me?" and he said, +"Because its secreter than the Post Office." And the Association +has the advantage that all its affairs are confidential, and though +figures and amounts are known, no single detail need be. + +The schemes are two and apart from schools, the minimum weekly +subscription is 12 cents. There is a Bank Book scheme and a Stamp +scheme in which the member holds a card which takes thirty-one 12-cent +stamps, and when filled up is handed in to the Secretary and a War +Savings Certificate is received. + +The financial advantage to the members of forming an Association is +quite easy to understand. Every week the takings are invested by the +Secretary (using a special slip given by the National Committee) in +War Savings Certificates, so that when members finish subscribing +for a certificate, instead of getting one dated the day they finished +paying for it, as it would be if they saved by themselves, the +Secretary has a store of earlier dated certificates on hand, and the +member receives one of these. + +This works out quite fairly if one rule is observed--never give any +one a Certificate dated earlier than the first week they started +paying for it. + +The people of England needed a great deal of education in war saving. +We had to fight the strongly held conviction that of all sins the most +despicable is "meanness," and that too much saving may seem mean. + +No Englishman will ever really admit he has any money, and he was +inclined to question your right to talk about the possibility of his +having some--and your right to tell him what to do with it, supposing +he had any. Some of them were a little suspicious that it was the +workers we were talking to most--it was not--and some of them were not +quite sure they wanted their employers to know how much they saved. +That is entirely obviated by the men running their own associations. +Other people told you the people in their District never did, +could, or would save and were spending their big wages in the most +extravagant way--that pianos and fur coats appealed far more than +war savings certificates. The official people in the towns when we +approached them about conferences said much the same in some cases, +but, yes, of course, you could come and have a conference and the +Mayor would preside and you could try. And you did, and in six months +they had dozens of associations and thousands of members and had sold +some thousands of certificates. We sell about one and a half million +certificates a week and have sold about 140 millions since March, +1916. The appeal that won them was not only the practical appeal of +the value of the money after the war for themselves, to buy a house, +to provide for old age, to educate the children. The strongest appeal +was the patriotic one. Save your money to save your country. Throw +your silver bullets at the enemy. We have not been content to say only +"save," we have tried to educate our people on finance and economics. +We have tried to show them that no country can go on in a struggle +like this unless it conserves its resources--not even the richest +countries. We have tried to appeal to the spirit behind all these +things and our Chairman in one of his admirable speeches said: + +"It is upon these simple human feelings of loyalty, comradeship and +patriotism that the great War Savings Movement is founded. Because of +the strength of this foundation I feel convinced that we shall succeed +in the great national work we are setting out to perform. However +difficult our task may prove, however serious the times ahead, this +spirit will carry us safely and triumphantly through everything, and +in the end we shall find ourselves not weakened but strengthened +on account of these same difficulties which we shall most surely +overcome." + +The problem before us is the problem of finding ten times the amount +of money we did before the war for National purposes. We are spending +over $30,000,000 a day. By our taxations, which includes an 80 per +cent tax on excess profits, we are raising over 25 per cent of our +total expenditure. We have met some other part of our expenditure in +the three years of war by using our gold reserve very heavily; a great +deal of it in payments in America, where you now possess more than a +third of the gold of the entire world. We have also used a portion of +our securities, our capital wealth and past savings, and we have had +to borrow heavily. Our National Debt is now £4,000,000,000. It was +£700,000,000 at the outbreak of war. £1,000,000,000 has been lent to +our Allies and the Dominions. + +Numbers of people have an impression that Governments can find money. +They can, to a certain extent, but only in a very limited way, without +great harm. There is in this creation an addition to the buying power +of the community, but if everybody goes on spending no addition to +the productive power, so it only creates high prices and hardship. The +inflation of currency caused by it is a risk and an evil. The sound +way is to get the money by taxation, from resources and in real +voluntary loans. + +America's burden is very much the same as our own, and the need +here also of voluntary saving and lending to the extent of more than +half the expenditure is clear. America, like ourselves, is very +wisely trying to democratise its war loans. Nothing is wiser or +sounder or more calculated to make progress, and the changes after +the war which will come, sound and steady than widely-spread, +democratically-subscribed loans. These vast debts will have to be +paid by the ability, productiveness and work of all, so it is in the +highest degree desirable that the money and interest to be paid back +should go out to every class of the community--and not only to small +sections. It is well to remember, too, that the country that goes +to the peace table financially sound is in a position to make better +terms. + +[Illustration: ONE OF THE POSTERS RECENTLY ISSUED BY THE NATIONAL WAR +SAVINGS COMMITTEE] + +But the purely financial side of war savings is not the most important +one. We talk in terms of money but the reality is not money but goods +and services. The problem before our Governments and the problem +that cannot be left to our children (though the debts incurred in +securing the credits may be) is the problem of finding every day over +$30,000,000 worth of material and labour for the struggle. War savings +among the people is not only essential to secure the money needed--it +is far more essential from the point of view of securing the cutting +down of the consumption of goods and labour by our peoples. + +Economists in peace time argue over what is termed "luxury" +expenditure, the wasteful expenditure of peace. War expenditure may +be correctly termed wasteful to a very great extent, and no country +can carry both of these expenditures and remain solvent. Luxury +expenditure should be entirely eliminated and the material and labour +which was absorbed by it should go into the war. If this could be +done completely, little damage would be done to the nation's economic +position. The thing to be clearly realized is that all the productive +effort of the nation is needed for three things--the carrying on of +the war--the production of necessaries and the manufacture of goods +for export. Every civilian who uses material and labour unnecessarily +makes these tasks harder and goes into the markets as an unfair +competitor of the Government. Every man and woman who saves five +dollars and lends it to their country give their country what is far +more important than the five dollars. They transfer to the Government +the five dollars worth of material and labour they could have used up +if they had spent it on themselves and that is its real value. This +means the needful purchases of the State are substituted for, instead +of added to, the purchases of the civilian. + +Further, the influence of economy in preventing undue inflation of +currency and consequent high prices should be realized. A certain +amount of high prices in war is inevitable but if civilians buy +extravagantly, competition becomes intense and prices rise beyond all +need. The supplies are limited--in our case that is greatly added +to by the submarine menace--and the demands of the Government are +enormous. The competition between the Government and the people grows +more and more intense. Prices go still higher. The Government pays +more than it should and so do the people. Higher wages are demanded +with consequent higher prices, and so you get a vicious circle that +gets more and more dangerous. If the civilian will relieve this +pressure by demanding less, and cutting down his expenditure, prices +will become more reasonable and the cost of the war less. + +The chief difficulty in time of war is to make people realize the need +of economy when they have, as our people have, more money than ever +before, when enormous sums of money pour out ceaselessly to the people +from the Government. They have to realize the fundamental difference +between peace prosperity and war prosperity. Peace prosperity comes +from the creation of wealth. War prosperity comes from the dissipation +of wealth--the use of all resources--the pledging of credits. It is +just as if we, as individuals, to meet a personal crisis, took all our +personal savings and borrowed all we could and proceeded to spend it. +The wise man or woman will save all of it they can and realize that +every unnecessary dollar spent helps the enemy. No civilian in a +struggle of this kind has any moral right to more than necessary +things. We want every man and woman to have all they need for their +efficiency. We would not say for one moment that every one can save, +and money spent on clothing and feeding the children and keeping the +home comfortable is well spent, but nothing should be wasted. + +The standard in this matter should be set by the rich, on whom rests +the greatest responsibility, moral and social. It is impossible to +expect workers to save if they see luxury and extravagance everywhere +round them. One cannot too strongly say that. + +The civilians who work hard to produce, who have done heavy toil in +munitions and industry, and receive good wages and then go out and +spend it lavishly might just as well have slacked at their work. The +ultimate effect is the same. They have undone the good they did. It is +as if soldiers having won a trench let the Germans come back into it. + +People of small means often feel that all they can save is so small +that it cannot really help and wonder if the effort to save is worth +while, but if every person in America saved 2 cents a day, it would +amount to $730,000,000 in a year, and that would find a great deal of +munitions. + +Finding the money by saving finds everything, releases men for the +army, finds labour and money for munitions, finds labour for ships and +relieves the demands on tonnage, finds supplies. It is the fundamental +service of the civilian, and no good citizen wants luxuries while +soldiers and sailors need clothes and guns and ships and munitions. + +Everybody, man, woman, and child, can join the great financial army +and march behind our men, and women have done with us and can do +everywhere a great work in this. Women are on our National Committee +and doing a great deal of its organization. Our men in the trenches, +in the air, at sea, endure for us what we would have said before the +war was humanly unendurable. They pay for our freedom with a great +price--and we send them out to pay it--in death, disablement, +suffering and sacrifice. To fail in our duty behind them would be the +great betrayal. + +Our treasures are very small things compared with our men. Shall we +give them and not our money? + +[Illustration: REVERSE OF BEFORE YOU SPEND] + +[Illustration] + +A BOOKMARK, ISSUED BY N.W.S.C. + +[Illustration: THINK BEFORE YOU SPEND] + +[Illustration: REVERSE OF HOW 15/6] + +ANOTHER BOOKMARK + + + + +FOOD PRODUCTION AND CONSERVATION + + + "The whole country ought to realise that we are a beleaguered + city." + + --The President of the Board of Agriculture. + + + "If you have any belief in the cause for which thousands of + your fellow-countrymen have laid down their lives, you will + scrape and scrape and scrape, you will go in old clothes, + and old boots, and old ties until such a mass of treasure be + garnered into the coffers of the Government as to secure + at the end of all this tangle of misery a real and lasting + settlement for Europe." + + --The President of the Board of Education. + + + + + +CHAPTER X + +FOOD PRODUCTION AND CONSERVATION + + +In this great struggle the food question assumes greater and greater +importance. + +The production of food has been affected by the raising of great +armies--more than twenty million men are in arms in Europe--by the +feeding of armies, for which we must, of necessity, provide food in +excess of what these men would need in civil life. The ability to +get the food has been made difficult for us by the submarine warfare. +Thousands of tons of wheat lie in Australia, but we cannot afford +ships to bring it. Tea has been very short in England, though again +there are thousands of tons waiting in India. The most urgent need of +the Allies is for ships and more ships. There has been great loss of +tonnage and the needs of the Army and Navy absorb the service of vast +numbers of the available ships. We have moved 13,000,000 men since +war broke out, and the supplies and munitions they have needed, to our +many fronts. Ceaselessly we move the wounded. We have to bring into +Britain half our food. That we have done this, has been due to the +British Navy and the Reserves--the patrols and the mine sweepers--the +Fringes of the Fleet--and not least, the merchant seaman. About +6,000 merchantmen have been killed by the enemy, some with diabolical +cruelty. These men are torpedoed and come into port, and go for +another ship at once. On the ship on which I crossed there were seamen +who had been torpedoed three times In its submarine warfare the enemy +has broken every international and human law--has used "frightfulness" +to its fullest extent, and the answer of our merchant seamen is to go +to sea again as soon as the ship is ready, and the older men, who had +retired, return to sea. The seaman of our country know the enemy. It +was our Seamen's Union that refused to carry the Peace Delegates to +Stockholm, and it is they and our fishermen who, in the Reserves, man +the patrols and mine sweepers, and who, on our little drifters and +trawlers, have fought the enemy's big destroyers--fought till they +went down, refusing to surrender. + +It is not strange that the best-liked poster in our Food Crusade, +and the one people want everywhere, is a simple drawing of a merchant +seaman, and under it the words, "We risk our lives to bring you food. +It is up to you not to waste it." + +The countries that can succeed best in solving the food question are +the countries that will win, and the food problem will not cease, any +more than many others, when peace is declared. + +Very early in the war, existing organizations, such as the National +Food Reform Association, and newly created ones, the National Food +Economy League and the Patriotic Food League of Scotland, did a great +deal of active work on food saving. They aimed at instructing in +the scientific principles of the economical use of food, and issued +admirable leaflets and Handbooks for Housewives and Cookery Books. +A series of Exhibitions, often described as "Patriotic Housekeeping +Exhibitions" were held in different parts of the country, organized +generally by women's societies. One of the early ones I organized +in Salisbury. Later, the Public Trustee was chairman of an Official +Committee, which organized large Exhibitions in London and throughout +the country. These Exhibitions had stalls showing food values with +specimens, had exhibits of the most economical cooking stoves and +arrangements, and exhibited every manner of time and labour saving +device. They had wonderful exhibits of clothes for children made from +old clothes of grown-ups, of marvellous dresses and little jerseys and +caps and scarfs made from legs of old stockings. There were charming +dresses and underclothing made of the very simplest materials and +decorated artistically with stitching and embroidery. These were made +by school girls of seven and upwards for themselves, and the Glasgow +School of Art's work, done in schools there, was perfectly beautiful. +The cost was shown and it was incredibly small. All sorts of things +for the household in simple carpentry and upholstery, using up boxes +and wood, were shown, and old tins were converted into all sorts of +useful household things. Facts as to waste were made as striking as +possible by demonstration. Every exhibition had a War Savings Stall +and Certificates were often sold at these in large numbers, the Queen +buying the first sold at the first London Exhibition. + +The great feature of the Exhibitions was Food Saving and Conservation. +Demonstrations in cooking and in hay-box cooking, were given and these +were attended by thousands of women, Miss Petty, "The Pudding Lady," +being a specially attractive demonstrator. She was called "The Pudding +Lady," first by little children in London in the East End, where she +used to go into the homes, and show them how to cook on their own +fires, and with their own meagre possessions. When she came there was +pudding, so her title came as a result. + +We always included exhibits and posters on the care of the babies +and the children. Lectures on vegetable and potato growing, bee and +poultry keeping, etc., were also given. + +There were competitions in connection with the Exhibitions--prizes +were offered for the best cake--for the best war bread--for the best +dinners for a family at a small cost--for the best weekly budgets of +different small incomes--for the best blouse and dress made at a +small cost, etc., and these were extremely popular. The prizes were +generally War Savings Certificates or labour-saving devices. + +From the Governmental point of view the Food work is in two great +divisions: Food Production, which is worked by the Food Production +Department of the Board of Agriculture, of which the Women's Branch is +doing the work of placing women on the land. It not only works on the +production of more food but it organizes the conservation of food, +such as fruit bottling, and preserving fruit, and vegetable and fruit +drying, etc. + +A very great deal has been done in demonstrating how to conserve +fruit and vegetables all over the country and this has been done to an +extent hitherto quite unreached. Co-operative work has been done and +most interesting experiments made. The glass bottles necessary have +been secured by the Department, and are sold by them to those doing +the conservation at a fixed price. Last summer the Sugar Commission +also arranged to sell sufficient sugar for making preserves to those +people who grow their own fruit. This they succeeded in doing to a +very large extent--which was a most valuable conservation. + +The Ministry of Food is the other great body dealing with all food +problems of supply, price, regulations, and propaganda. + +Lord Rhondda is our Food Controller. Our first Controller was Lord +Devonport. Food control is the most unpopular work in any country and +a Food Controller deserves the help, sympathy and support of every +good citizen. No Food Controller, no matter how able, and no matter +how great and comprehensive his powers are, can do his work without +the co-operation of the people. + +Lord Rhondda's powers are very great as to control of supplier prices +and regulations. The price of the four pound loaf (and it must be four +pounds) is fixed by our Government at 18 cents and the loss is borne +by the Government. + +The prices of meat, beans, cheese, tea, sugar, milk, and the profits +on other articles are regulated by the Ministry. When Lord Devonport +was Food Controller we had courses at lunch and dinner limited--a +policy most people felt to be stupid as it meant a run on staple +foods--and it was abandoned by Lord Rhondda. We had meatless days, +which also have been stopped. We found it difficult to do, and +impossible to regulate. We had many potatoless days last spring--by +regulation in the restaurants--perforce by most of us in towns where +they were almost impossible to get, but this year we have the biggest +potato crop we have had. + +In restaurants and hotels now supplies are regulated. No one can have +more than two ounces of bread at any meal, and the amount of flour and +sugar supplied is strictly rationed to the hotels, according to the +number served. Not more than five ounces of meat (before cooking) can +be served at any meal. These regulations are strictly enforced, and +the duty of seeing all the regulations are carried out, and all the +work done, devolves upon the Local Food Control Committees which have +been set up all over the country under the Ministry, by the local +authorities. On every such Committee there must be women. They fix +prices for milk, etc., and initiate prosecutions for infringements of +the laws regulating food. + +No white flour is sold or used in Britain. The mills are all +controlled by the Government and all flour is now war grade, which +means it is made of about 70 per cent white flour and other grains, +rye, corn (which we call maize), barley, rice-flour, etc., are added. +We expect to mill potato flour this year. Oatmeal has a fixed price, +9 cents a pound, in Scotland, 10 cents in England. No fancy pastries, +no icing on cakes and no fancy bread may be made. Only two shapes of +loaf are allowed--the tin loaf and the Coburg. Cakes must only have 15 +per cent sugar and 30 per cent war grade flour. Buns and scones and +biscuits have regulations as to making, also. + +Butter is very scarce and margarine supplies not always big enough, +and we have tea and sugar and margerine queues in our big towns--women +standing in long rows waiting. It is an intolerable waste of time--and +yet it seems difficult to get it managed otherwise. + +The woman in the home in our country with high prices, want of +supplies, and her desire to economise has had a busy and full time, +but our people are quite well fed. Naturally enough, considering the +hard work we are all doing, our people are really using more, not less +food, but waste is being fought very well. + +Waste is a punishable offence and if you throw away bread or any good +food, you will be proceeded against, as many have been, and fined 40/- +to £100. No bread must be sold that is not twelve hours baked. New +bread is extravagant in cutting and people eat more. It is interesting +to note that in one period of the Napoleonic wars we did the same +thing and ate no new bread. + +Food hoarding is an offence and the food is commandeered and the +hoarder punished. Several people have been fined £50 and upwards. + +The work of the Army in economizing food has been a great work. +Rations have been cut down and much more carefully dealt with. The use +of waste products has become a science. All the fats are saved--even +the fats in water used in washing dishes are trapped and saved. The +fats are used to make glycerine, and last year the Army saved enough +waste fat to make glycerine for 18,000,000 shells. Fats and scraps for +pigs, and bones, etc., are all sold and one-third of the money goes +back to the men's messing funds to buy additional foods and every camp +tries to beat the other in its care and efficiency and the women cooks +are doing admirably in this work. + +Officers of the Navy and Army are only permitted to spend a certain +amount on meals in restaurants and hotels--3/6 for lunch and 5/6 for +dinner and 1/6 for tea. + +The other side of the Food Campaign is the propaganda and educative +work. Lord Rhondda has two women Co-Directors with him--Mrs. C.S. Peel +and Mrs. M. Pember Reeves--in the Ministry of Food, and they help in +the whole work and very specially with the educational and propaganda +work, and with the work of communal feeding. + +A number of communal kitchens have been established with great +success--many being in London. At these thousands of meals are +prepared--soups and stews, fish, and meats, and puddings, every +variety of dishes, and the purchasers come to the kitchens and bring +plates and jugs to carry away the food. Soups are sold from 2 to +4 cents for a jugful, and other things in proportion. These are +established under official recognition, the Municipalities in most +cases providing the initial cost. The prices paid cover the cost of +food and cooking, and the service is practically all voluntary. + +The first propaganda work was, as I have said, done by the War Savings +Committees, and our big task was to try to make our people realize how +undesirable it is to have to resort to compulsory rationing. We +are rationed on sugar and we do not want to adopt more compulsory +rationing than is necessary. Compulsory rationing, in some people's +minds, seems to ensure supplies. It does not and where, under +voluntary rationing, people go round and find other food and get along +with the supplies there are, under compulsory rationing there would +always be a tendency to demand their ration and to make trouble about +the lack of any one commodity in it. + +Compulsory rationing to be workable must be a simple scheme, and no +overhead ration of bread, for example, is just. The needs of workers +vary and so do the needs of individuals, and bread is the staple food +of our poorer classes. They have less variety of foods and need more +bread than the better-off people. Compulsory rationing may have to +come, but most of us are determined it will not come till it is really +unavoidable and we are appealing to our people to prevent that, and +masses of them are economizing and saving in a manner worthy of the +greatest praise. + +The rationing we appealed to our people to get down to, was three +pounds of flour per head in the week, 2½ lbs. of meat and ½ lb. sugar. + +The King's Pledge, which we had signed by those willing to do this, +all over the country, pledged people to cut down their consumption +of grain by one-quarter in the household, and the King's Proclamation +urged this, and economies in grain and horse feeding. + +An old Proclamation of the 18th century appealed to our people to cut +down their consumption of their grains by one-third and was almost +identical in form, and copies signed by Edmund Burke and other famous +people were shown in our Thrift Exhibitions in Buckinghamshire. + +We arranged meetings for the maids of households in big groups to +explain the need and meaning of economy in food with great success. +Every head of a household knows that the maids can make or mar one's +efforts to save food, and we have found many of ours admirable, and +willing to do wonders in the way of economy and saving. + +If compulsory rationing in more than sugar comes as it may, the +basis of rationing will, we believe, be worked out with as much +consideration as possible of the needs of the workers. + +Our Co-operative movement is, in a simple way rationing its buyers, by +regulating supplies, and it is in voluntary work of that kind, which +is going on extensively, and in the people's own efforts and economies +that our great hope lies. + +The Ministry of Food arranges meetings and sends speakers to +associations and bodies of every kind. The schools are very +extensively used for demonstrations to which the parents are invited. +The children are talked to and write essays on food and general saving +and in these, one little girl of seven told us, "If you don't throw +away your crusts, you will beat the Kaiser," and another small boy +said, "Boys should give up sliding for the war, as it wears out their +boots," and another said, "We should not go to picture houses so +much--once a week is quite often enough." One little child who had +been coached at school returned home to see a baby sister of two throw +away a big crust and said, "If Lord Rhondda was here, wouldn't he give +you a row." So the root of the matter seems to be in the youth of our +country and the sweetness and willingness of their sacrifices is very +fragrant. They sing about saving bread and saving pennies, and to +hear a choir of Welsh children sing these songs, with a vigour and +enjoyment that is infectious, is quite delightful. + +Most of our big girls' schools have given up buying sweets, and when +they get gifts of them send them to the prisoners and the soldiers. We +have, of course, restricted our manufacture of sweets very much. + +Our school children have, in addition, worked enormous numbers of +school gardens and grown tons of potatoes and vegetables. + +Our distilleries are taken over by the Government for spirits for +munitions and our beer is cut down very greatly. Travelling kitchens +go out from the Ministry of Food also and do demonstrations in +villages and country districts on cooking and conservation. The +Ministry issues leaflets of recipes and instructions in cooking and +has a special Win the War Cookery Book. Articles are also published on +food values and quite a number of people begin to understand something +about calories, even though they are rather vague about what it all +means. + +Naturally most of the Food speaking and work is done by women though +food control and saving is men's and women's work. + +This year we saved grain by collecting the horse chestnuts, a work +that was done by the school children. These are crushed and the oil +used for munitions and it was reckoned we could save tens of thousands +of tons of grain by doing this. + +A wonderful work in the use of waste materials has been the work of +the Glove Waistcoat Society, to which American women have kindly sent +old gloves. Old gloves are cleaned, the fingers are cut off, the other +big pieces stitched together and cut into waistcoats and backed by +linenette. These are sold to the soldiers and sailors for wear under +their tunics and are most beautifully light and windproof. The fingers +of kid gloves are made into glue, of wash leather gloves into rubbers +for household use. The big pieces of linenette over are made into dust +sheets and the small scraps go to stuff mattresses for a Babies' Home. +The buttons are carded and sold and the making up provides work for +distressed elderly women. It needs no funds--it is self-supporting--it +only needs old gloves. + +In preventing waste and in food production and conservation, our +people have learned much, and a very great deal of admirable work is +being done. + + + + +THE WOMEN'S ARMY AUXILIARY CORPS + + "Now every signaller was a fine Waac, + And a very fine Waac was she--e." + + "Soldier and Sailor, too." + + + + +CHAPTER XI + +THE WOMEN'S ARMY AUXILIARY CORPS + + +The Waacs is the name we all know them by and shall, it seems, +continue to. It will have to go into future dictionaries beside Anzac. + +The deeds of the Anzacs in Gallipoli and France are immortalised in +many records--magnificently in John Masefield's "Gallipoli"--an epic +in its simplicity. The work of the Waacs is the work of support and +substitution and its records only begin to be made. + +The Women's Army Auxiliary Corps is an official creation of this year. +At the Women's Service Demonstration in the Albert Hall in January, +1917, Lord Derby asked for Women for clerical service in the army and +official appeals were issued in February and repeatedly since that +time, and now all over the country we have Recruiting Committees +organizing meetings and securing recruits. They are recruiting at the +rate of 10,000 a month. + +The Waacs had many forerunners in some of our voluntary organizations, +in the Women's Reserve Ambulance, of "The Green Cross Society," +attached to the National Motor Volunteers--the Women's Volunteer +Reserve--the Women's Legion--the Women's Auxiliary Force and the Women +Signallers Territorial Corps. The Women's Signallers Corps had as +Commandant-in-Chief Mrs. E.J. Parker--Lord Kitchener's sister. They +believed women should be trained in every branch of signalling and +that men could be released for the firing line by women taking over +signalling work at fixed stations. Their prediction came true more +than two years later, for today they are in France. They drilled and +trained the women in all the branches of signalling semaphore--flags, +mechanical arms; and in Morse--flags, airline and cable, sounder +(telegraphy), buzzer, wireless, whistle, lamp and heliograph. They +also learned map reading--the most fascinating of accomplishments. +This Corps had the distinction of introducing "wireless" for women +in England in connection with its Headquarters training school. When +one of the Corps later accepted a splendid appointment as wireless +instructor at a wireless telegraph college--the Corps was duly elated. + +[Illustration: W.A.A.C.'s. ON THE MARCH] + +[Illustration: WOMEN OF THE RESERVE AMBULANCE] + +The Women's Reserve Ambulance had the distinction of being the first +ambulance on the scene in the first serious Zeppelin Raid in London +(September, 1915). They came to where the first bombs fell, killing +and wounding, and did the work of rescue, and when another ambulance +arrived later, "Thanks," said the police, "the ladies have done this +job." + +They worked assisting the War Hospital Supply Depots, that wonderful +organization run by Miss MacCaul, they provided orderlies to serve the +meals and act as housemaids, and make the men welcome at Peel House, +one of the Canadian Clubs. Others helped in Hospitals, washing up and +doing other work. + +Others met and moved wounded--others at night took the soldiers to +the Y.M.C.A. huts. The Women's Volunteer Reserve, too, seemed to be +everywhere doing all sorts of useful, helpful things--disciplined, +ready, and trained. The Women's Legion led the way in providing cooks +and waitresses for camps and sent out 1,200 of these inside a year. +The first convalescent camp to have all its cooking and serving done +by women was managed--admirably, too--by the Women's Legion, so +the Waacs had many voluntary forerunners, who are mostly in it and +amalgamated with it now. + +The Waacs are a part of the Army organization--are in His Majesty's +Forces and when a girl joins she is subject to army rules and +regulations. They are working now in large numbers in England and in +France, at all the base towns, and in quiet places, where things that +matter are planned and initiated. + +The girl who goes to France knows she is going to possible danger by +being handed, before she goes, her two identification discs. + +For France, no woman under twenty or over forty is eligible. After +volunteering, they are chosen by Selection Boards and medically +examined. They receive a grant for their uniforms. The workers wear +a khaki coat-frock--a very sensible garment--brown shoes and soft hat +and a great coat. At the end of a year they get a £5 ($25) bonus on +renewing their contracts, and they get a fortnight's leave in a year. + +Their payment is not high--it works out about the same as a soldier's +when everything is paid--and that, with us, is just over 25 cents a +day, so the khaki girl, like the soldier, does not work for the money. + +The whole organization is officered and directed by women. Mrs. +Chalmers Watson, M.D., C.B.E., is the Chief Controller, with +Miss MacQueen as Assistant Chief Controller. Under them are the +Controllers--Area, Recruiting, etc., and the officer in charge +of a unit is called an Administrator, and under her are deputy +administrators and assistant-administrators. They are not given +Military titles and do not hold commissions, but their appointments +are gazetted in the ordinary way. There is always a strong feeling in +England that Military and Naval titles should be strictly reserved. + +The equivalent of a sergeant is a "forewoman," and there are +quartermistresses in charge of stores. Rank is shown as among the men, +by badges, rose and fleur-de-lys. + +Administrators are being trained in large numbers. They have a short +course of drilling, learn to fill up Army forms, make out pay sheets, +how to requisition for rations, catering generally, and how to run a +hostel. They also attend practical lectures on hygiene and sanitation. +When this is done, they go to camp for a fortnight's training under an +administrator in actual charge of a Unit. If they have not done well +in this course, they are not appointed. + +An administrator receives a $100 grant for her uniform and is paid +from $600 to $875 a year out of which $200 is deducted for food. There +is generally one officer to every fifty women. + +The administrator must drill her girls. The W.A.A.C. is proud of its +tone and its discipline. Its officers make the girls feel much is +expected of them, because of the uniform they wear, and the girls have +made a fine response. There are very few rules and as little restraint +as possible. The girls are put on their honour when not under +supervision. The administrator has considerable disciplinary powers, +but they are very little needed. + +It does not seem to be by discipline that the officer succeeds best. +There is a nice story told of an Administrator who had been away from +her unit some days, returning and being met at the station by one of +the rank and file who had come for her bag. + +"I _am_ glad to see you, Ma'am," was the greeting, so emphatic a one +that the Administrator inquired nervously if something were wrong. + +"Oh, no. Seems as if Mother had been away, Ma'am," explained the girl. + +The Administrator can help her girls by sorting them out well, +putting friends and the same kind of girls together; it makes so much +difference. + +The Administrator has not only to handle her own sex--she has to deal +with men officers and quartermasters, and she succeeds in doing that +well, too. + +Our Administrators are naturally women of education and carefully +chosen and there is plenty of opportunity of rising "from the ranks." + +The girls cross over to France on the gray transports, are received +by the women Draft Receiving Officers, and go up the lines to their +assigned posts. + +The women are billeted in some of the base towns in pensions and +summer hotels that have been commandeered, in big houses and in one +case in a beautiful old Chateau where the ghosts of dead-and-gone +ladies of beauty and fashion must wonder what kind of women these +khaki clad girls are. The girls in these make their rooms home-like +with photographs, hangings, and little personal belongings. + +The greater number of girls live in camps, and different types of huts +have been tried. Some of the camps are entirely of wooden huts--large +and roomy. Other camps have the Nissen hut of corrugated iron, lined +with laths wood floored and raised from the ground. These have +been linked together in the cleverest way by covered ways. In the +sleeping huts the beds are iron bedsteads with springs and horse-hair +mattresses. Each bed has four thoroughly good blankets and a pillow. +No sheets are given--there is no labour to wash the thousands of +sheets, and the cotton is needed. Each woman has a wooden locker with +a shelf above, and a chair. Washing and bathing is done in separate +huts, and in every camp hot and cold water is laid on. + +The mess room is a big hut. The girls wait on themselves and the food +is excellent. They receive in rations the same as the soldiers on +lines of communication--four-fifths of a fighting man's ration and +whatever is over is returned and credited, and the extra money is used +for luxuries, games and for entertaining visitors from other camps. + +Here is a typical week's meals and it shows how well they are fed: + + MONDAY.--Breakfast: Tea, bread, butter, baked mince, jam. + Dinner: Cold beef, potatoes, tomatoes, baked apples, custard. + Tea: Tea, bread, butter, jam. Supper: Welsh rarebit, bread, + butter, jam. + + TUESDAY.--Breakfast: Tea, bread, butter, boiled ham, + marmalade. Dinner: brown onion stew, potatoes, baked beans, + biscuit pudding. Tea: Tea, bread, butter, jam, cheese. Supper: + Savoury rice, tea, bread. + + WEDNESDAY.--Breakfast: Tea, bread, butter, veal loaf. Dinner: + Roast mutton, potatoes, marrow, bread pudding. Tea: Tea, + bread, butter, marmalade, jam. Supper: Rissoles, bread, + butter, cheese. + + THURSDAY.--Breakfast: Tea, bread, butter, fried bacon. Dinner: + Meat pie, potatoes, cabbage, custard and rice. Tea: Tea, + bread, butter, jam. Supper: Soup, bread and jam. + + FRIDAY.--Breakfast: Tea, bread, butter, rissoles, marmalade. + Dinner: Boiled beef, potatoes and onions, Dundee roll. Tea: + tea, bread, butter, jam, slab cake. Supper: Shepherd's pie, + tea, bread, butter. + + SATURDAY.--Breakfast: Tea, bread, butter, boiled ham, jam. + Dinner: Thick brown stew, potatoes and cabbage, bread pudding. + Tea: Tea, bread, butter, jam, cheese. Supper: Toad-in-hole, + bread jam. + + SUNDAY.--Breakfast: Tea, bread, butter, fried bacon. Dinner: + Roast beef, potatoes and cabbage, stewed fruit, custard. Tea: + Tea, bread, butter, jam. Supper: Soup, bread, butter, cheese. + +They are divided into five big classes for work. There are large +numbers of them cooks and waitresses, and many of these cooks come +from the best private houses in England, so the Waacs and the soldiers +fare well. In one camp in the early days sixty women cooks walked in +and sixty men out, released for the fighting lines. The saving in fats +done by the women is very great and their economies admirable and the +women are waitresses in the camps and messes. + +In one base in France when twenty-nine cooks came to take charge in +the early days the commanding officer issued an order that expresses +very well the spirit in which the women are regarded. + + +BASE DEPOT. + + The Officer Commanding Base Depot wishes to draw the attention + of all ranks to the following points in connection with the + Domestic Section of the Women's Auxiliary Army, which is + employed in this depot: + + These women have not come out for the sake of money, as their + pay is that of a private soldier. In nearly every case they + have lost someone dear to them in this war, and they are out + here to try to do their best to make things more comfortable + for the men in regard to their food. + + It, therefore, is up to all ranks to make their lot an easy + and not a hard one during their stay in France. If any man + should so forget himself as to use bad language or at any time + to be rude to them, it is up to any of his comrades standing + by to shut him up, and see that he does not repeat this + offence. + + To the older men I would say: Treat them as you would your own + daughters. To the younger men: Treat them as you would your + own sisters. + + ----, Comdg., Base Depot. + +They are doing the clerical work more and more, and in a few weeks +have become so technical that they know where to send requisitions +concerning 9.2 guns or trench mortars or giant howitzers. There is a +favourite story told against an early Waac that when a demand came for +armoured hose, she sent it to the clothing department, but she knows +better now. + +French girls are also helping in the clerical department, working side +by side with the Waacs. + +Others, the telegraphists and telephonists are in the Signalling Corps +and these are the only ones who wear Army badges. They work under the +Officers Commanding Signals and are so successful that the officers +want thousands more. + +Another small group are called the "Hush Waacs." There are only +about a dozen of them and they have come from the Censor's Office and +between them have a thorough knowledge of all modern languages. They +are decoding signalled and written messages, script of every kind. + +Numbers more are motor car and transport drivers working with A.S.C. + +An intensely interesting piece of work at the front in which the Waacs +now are, and in which French women have worked for a very long time, +and are still working in large numbers, is the great "Salvage" work of +the Army. In the Salvage centre at one ordnance base 30,000 boots are +repaired in a week. They are divided into three classes--those that +can be used again by the men at the front--those for men on the lines +of communication--those for prisoners and coloured labour, and uppers +that are quite useless are cut up into laces. They salve old helmets, +old web and leather equipments, haversacks, rifles, horse shoes, +spurs, and every conceivable kind of battlefield debris. + +The work of repair and of renewal of clothing, which goes over to +England to be dealt with, is a wonder of economy. + +The women are helping in postal work and we handle about three million +letters and packets a day in France for our Army there. + +One other piece of work that falls to trained women gardeners in the +Corps, is the care of the graves in France. There are so many graves +in little clusters, lonely by the roadside, and in great cemeteries. +They mark them clearly and they make them more beautiful with flowers. +No work they have come to do, is done more faithfully than this act of +reverence to our heroic and honoured dead. + +The Y.W.C.A.'s Blue Triangle is going to be the same symbol for the +Waacs as the Red Triangle for the Soldiers. They are building huts +everywhere in France and in England, and the girls like them as much +as the men do. + +In these recreation huts the girls enjoy themselves and there are +evenings when the soldier friends come in, too, and have a good time +with them, for Waacs and the soldiers know each other and meet at all +the Bases and Camps. + +They dance and play games, and act, or sing, or come and talk, and one +visitor tells us of seeing a girl doing machining at the end of a hut +with one soldier turning the handle for her and another helping. + +One evening at a dance some gallant Australian N.C.O.'s arrived +carrying two enormous pans of a famous salad, that was their +specialty, as their contribution to the provisions. So life in the +Waacs is not all work--there is play, too, wisely. Every camp has a +trained V.A.D. worker to look after the girls in case of sickness. +If the case is bad they are sent over to Endell Street Hospital in +London. + +The Navy is going to follow the Army--so our women will be "Soldier +and Sailor too," and we shall have to sing, "Till the girls come +home," as well. + +The Admiralty has decided to employ women on various duties on shore +hitherto done by naval ratings, and to establish a Women's Royal Naval +Service. The women will have a distinctive uniform and the service +will be confined to women employed on definite duties directly +connected with the Royal Navy. It is not intended at present to +include those serving in the Admiralty departments or the Royal +Dockyards or other civil establishments under the Admiralty. There +are thousands of women in these already, as there were in Army pay +offices, etc., before the Waacs were formed. + +Dame Katherine Furse, G.B.E., will be Director of the Women's Royal +Naval Service, and will be responsible under the Second Sea Lord, for +its administration and organization. + +Already we hear they are likely to be known as the "Wrens." And so our +women are inside the organized forces of defence of our Country--the +last line of usefulness and service. + + + + +THE WAR AND MORALS + + + "Evils which have been allowed to flourish for centuries + cannot be destroyed in a day. If the nation really wishes to + be freed from the consequences of prostitution it must deal + with the sources of prostitution by a long series of social, + educational, and economic reforms. The ultimate remedy is the + acceptance of a single standard of morality for men and women, + and the recognition that man is meant to be the master and not + the slave of his body. There are thousands of men both in the + army and out of it who know this, and for whom the streets of + London have no dangers." + + --Dr. HELEN WILSON. + + + + +CHAPTER XII + +THE WAR AND MORALS + + +The unprecedented state of things produced by the war brought in its +train serious anxiety as to moral conditions, not only in regard to +the relation between the sexes but in other ways. The gathering of +every kind of man together in camps creates great problems. Young +boys, who had never been away from home before, who know very +little of the world or of temptations, were often flung in with very +undesirable companions. There were many risks and many hard tests +and the parents who see their young boys go to camp without preparing +them, or warning them, do their boys a great disservice and I have +known of sons who bore in their hearts a feeling of having been badly +treated by their parents, that would never die, for being sent without +a word of counsel into these things. + +It is not only actions--corrupt thoughts are the most evil of all--and +to help to give our boys the greatest possession, moral courage, +founded on knowledge, is our finest gift. + +There were temptations to think less cleanly, to hear things said +without protest and to say them later. There were drinking temptations +and one used to wonder with a sick heart, what mothers would feel if +they could see these young boys of theirs sometimes, so pathetically +young and so foolish. There was also in these great camps of men--let +us realize that quite clearly--great good for the boys and the +men--good that far outweighs the evil. All the good of discipline, +all they gained by their coming together for a great cause, all they +gained in that great comradeship and service for each other, and in +their self-sacrifice for their country and the world. The wonder +and beauty of what it is, and means some of our own men have told +us--among them one who died, Donald Hankey, and has left us a rich +treasure in his works. And we all know it in our own men--that abiding +spirit that is the vision without which the people perish. + +But there are and were evils to fight and men and women to help. The +huts and canteens and guesthouses are great agencies for good--as well +as for comfort. Loneliness, and nowhere to go, and no one to talk to, +are conditions that make for mischief. + +Then there were the girls at the outbreak of the war, excited by all +that was happening, not yet busy as they nearly all are now, feeling +that the greatest thing was to know the soldiers and talk and walk +with them, and flocking around camps and barracks, being foolish and +risking worse. + +The National Union of Women Workers decided to take action about this +and drew up a scheme which they submitted to the Chief Commissioner +of the Metropolitan Police, Sir Edward Henry, K.C.V.O. This scheme was +for women of experience and knowledge of girls to patrol in the camps +and barrack areas, and talk to girls who were behaving foolishly, and +try to influence them for good. It was felt and it turned out to be +quite accurate that the mere presence of these women would make girls +and men behave better. Sir Edward Henry approved of the idea and +arranged that each Patrol should have a card signed by him to be +carried while on duty, authorizing the Patrols to seek and get the +assistance of the Police, if necessary, and the Patrols wore an armlet +with badge and number. + +Their work in London proved so successful that the Home Office +recommended the adoption of the scheme in provincial centres, where +the Chief Constables authorized them and later the War Office asked +for more Patrols in some of the camp areas and spoke very highly of +their work. + +A woman Patrol is generally a woman who is busy in her own home or +profession all day, but who gives some hours one or two evenings a +week to this work. + +They have done the work faithfully and well, and have exceeded in +their success all anticipations. There are about 3,000 Patrols in the +Kingdom; of these eighty-five are engaged in special work in London +and paid by the Commissioner of Police. Two are engaged in work at +Woolwich Arsenal. Two are Park Keepers appointed by the Board of Works +and are working in Kensington Gardens, and their names were submitted +to the King before appointment. They have the power of arrest. + +A subsidy has been granted to the Women's Patrol Committee for the +training of Women Patrols of £400 a year. In many big towns admirable +work has been done. + +In Edinburgh the Patrol Committee was asked by H.M. Office of Works to +help the men park keepers in keeping order in the King's Park. + +This they have done with great success. Dublin has just taken over two +women Patrols as paid workers. + +The Military, Admiralty, Police, and Civil Authorities have all united +in praising their work and any one can realize how much patience and +tact and knowledge it calls for, and what it means to have had it done +for over three years. The patrols have not been content only to talk +to the girls, though it is wonderful what that alone can do. They have +succeeded in getting them to come to clubs and they have worked +in connection with the mixed clubs of which we have several very +successful ones. A mixed club is very useful and helpful, but it must +be well run by a good committee of men and women, and you need people +of judgment and knowledge and tactful firmness in charge of it, if it +is to be the best kind of club. + +We have found an admirable thing is to have evenings for men friends +in the Girls' Clubs when the girls can invite their men friends in, +and have music and games and entertainment. + +When Patrols were started, there was a very strong feeling that there +ought to be women police, a much needed change in our country. We had +none when war broke out, but in September, 1914, Miss Darner Dawson +founded the Women Police Service. When members joined they were +trained in drill, first aid, practical instructions in Police Duties, +gained by actual work in streets, parks, etc. They studied special +acts relating to women and children and civil and criminal law and the +procedure and rules of evidence in Police Courts. + +Their first work was done in Grantham where, in November, 1914, +the Women's Central Committee of Grantham elected a Women Police +Subcommittee to provide a fund for the payment of two Police Women to +work with the Chief Constable. In February the following letter was +written about their work: + + "To the Chief Officer, Women Police,--I understand that there + is some idea of removing the two members of the Women Police + now stationed here. I trust that this is not the case. The + services of the two ladies in question have proved of great + value. They have removed sources of trouble to the troops in a + manner that the Military Police could not attempt. Moreover, I + have no doubt whatever that the work of these two ladies in an + official capacity is a great safeguard to the moral welfare of + young girls in the town. + + (Signed) "F. HAMMERSLEY, M.G., Commanding 11th Division, Grantham." + +and in November, 1915, they were made official Police by the City +Council. In July, 1916, the Police Miscellaneous Provisions Act was +passed, which encouraged the employment of Policewomen by stating that +pay of the police "shall be deemed to include the pay of any women who +may be employed by a Police Authority," etc. + +Now there are thirty-four Policewomen in our Boroughs, but their +position is still anomalous and unsatisfactory, as they do not come +under the Police Act for purposes of discipline, pay, pensions, and +compensation, but this will come. Meantime the Women Police Service +goes on doing its admirable work of training and providing Volunteer +and Semi-official police (supported by women's funds), in addition to +those appointed by local authorities in Boroughs. + +These semi-official police women are able to do a great deal, if the +Chief Constable is friendly, and, naturally, they are appointed where +he is so. They are often made Probation Officers and are used for +children's and girl's and women's cases. Their work leads more and +more to the official appointments and in this work as in so many +of our successes, we women have achieved the results by having the +voluntary organizations and training ourselves first and proving our +fitness. + +From my own experience, it is impossible to speak too highly of the +kindness and willingness of many Chief Constables to do everything to +teach and help the women. + +The Women Police Service naturally insists on a high standard of +training and this has been of great value. + +A big development of women police work has been in the Munition +factories where now about 700 women are employed in this capacity in +England, Scotland and Wales. + +The report of the Women's Police Service gives the following +interesting account. + +"In 1916 the Department Explosives Supply of the Ministry of Munitions +applied to Sir Edward Henry for a force of Women Police to act as +guards for certain of H.M. Factories. Sir Edward Henry sent for the +two chief officers of the Women Police Service, and informed them that +it was his intention to recommend them to the Ministry of Munitions +for the supplying of the Women Police required. They thanked the +Commissioner for his expression of trust in their capabilities, and in +July an agreement was drawn up between the Minister of Munitions +and the Chief Officer and Chief Superintendent of the Women Police +Service, who were appointed to act as the Minister's representatives +for the 'training, supplying and controlling' of the Force required. +The duties of the Policewomen were to include checking the entry of +women into the factory, examining passports, searching for contraband, +namely, matches, cigarettes and alcohol; dealing with complaints of +petty offences; patrolling the neighbourhood for the protection of +women going home from work; accompanying the women to and fro in the +workmen's trains to the neighbouring towns where they lodge; appearing +in necessary cases at the Police Court, and assisting the magistrates +in dealing with such cases, if required to. The Force for each factory +was to consist of an inspector, sergeants and constables. Women to +be trained for this work were at once enrolled by the Women Police +Service and trained under a Staff of Officers. + +"Since the inauguration of factory-police work for women in July, +1916, a marked success has attended the organisation, which has +resulted in almost daily applications for Policewomen for factories +situated in every part of the United Kingdom. We are not able to give +a list of these factories nor to mention their names in our report +of the work carried on by them, but we may say that at the present +time we are supplying H.M. Factories, National Filling Factories +and Private Controlled Factories. We are sure that our patrons and +subscribers will feel as proud as we are of the intrepid Policewomen +who for the past fourteen months have been carrying out these duties, +which, we believe, no women have hitherto dreamt of undertaking, and +which have called forth qualities of tact, discretion, cool courage +and endurance that would compare well with any of those whom we call +heroes in the fight at the front. We would call attention to one +factory from which both the military and male Police Guard has +been withdrawn. The factory employs several thousand women in the +manufacture and disposal of some of the most dangerous explosives +demanded by the war. When an air raid is in progress the operatives +are cleared from the factory and the sheds and magazines are left +to the sole charge of the Firemen and Policewomen, who take up the +respective posts allotted to them. The Policewomen who guard the +various magazines know that they hold their lives in their hands. +We are proud to report that not one woman has failed at her post or +shirked her duty in the hour of danger. The duties assigned to the +Policewomen and their officers in these factories have increased +considerably in scope during the past year. In one factory the force +of Policewomen numbers 160 under one Chief Inspector, two Inspectors +and twelve Sergeants, all of whom have been sworn in and take entire +charge of all police cases dealing with women. They arrest, convey the +prisoners to the Women Police Charge Station, keep their own charge +sheets and other official documents, lock the prisoner in the cells, +keep guard over her, convey her to the Court House for trial, and if +convicted convey her to the prison. A short time ago the Inspector of +Policewomen in one of H.M. Factories was instructed by the authorities +to send a Policewoman to a distant town to fetch a woman prisoner, +an old offender. The Policewoman was armed with a warrant, railway +vouchers and handcuffs. The prisoner was handed over to the +Policewoman by the Policeman, and the Policewoman and her charge +returned without trouble. The prisoner expressed her relief and +gratitude at being escorted by a Policewoman, and behaved well +throughout the journey. The Policewoman reported that she was given +every courtesy and assistance by both police and railway officials. + +[Illustration: POLICE WOMEN] + +"We believe this constitutes the first time in history that women +guards have been entrusted with the care and custody of their +fellow-women when charged with breaking the law." + +Other pieces of important and difficult work have been undertaken by +women. + +There have been, unfortunately, cases in which the soldier's wife, +left at home, has behaved badly and been unfaithful. Men often write +from the trenches to the Chief Constable to ask if charges made +to them in letters about their wives are true. Naturally the Chief +Constable asks the women to investigate these charges. Sometimes the +charges are quite unfounded, simply spiteful and malicious and the +woman and Chief Constable write and say so. + +In other cases the husband knows of unfaithfulness and writes to the +Army Pay Office asking to have the allowance stopped to his wife. +The Army Pay Office never acts on any such letter without securing a +report from the Chief Constable, and again the woman is needed, +and there is frequently the question of the children as well. Their +allowance, of course, never ceases but they may go to some relative or +be disposed of in some way. + +These cases are infinitesimal in number. + +After the outbreak of the war there were many scares. Every one in our +country knows now how a myth is established. We have left the stage +behind where people told you they knew, from a friend, who knew a +friend who knew some one else who saw it, who was in the War Office, +etc., etc., etc.--that England was invaded--that the Navy was all +down--or the German Navy was all down--that we were going to do this, +that, or the other impossible thing. + +Dame Rumour had a joyous time in the early days of the war and +we suffered from the people who were not only quite certain that +everything was wrong morally, but told us that the illegitimate birth +rate was going to be enormous. Their accusations against our ordinary +girls were monstrous. There was some excitement and foolishness, but +anybody who was really working and dealing with it as the Patrol were, +knew the accusations were ridiculous. The illegitimate birth rate of +our country is lower than before, which is the best reply to, and +the vindication of the men of our armies and our girls against, these +absurd attacks. + +Another scare was about the drinking of women. Soldiers' wives were +attacked in this connection and the same kind of wild accusation +made, so much so that a committee was appointed to go into the whole +question (1915), presided over by Mrs. Creighton, President of the +National Union of Women Workers. + +In my experience a great deal of this talk was caused by the fact that +many women, who had never done social work, and who knew nothing of +real conditions, started to go among the people and were shocked and +overwhelmed by what were unfortunately normal wrong conditions, and +lost all sense of perspective. Some women did drink--true--but I found +they were generally the women who always had done it, and who perhaps +in some cases, having more money of their own and no husbands to deal +with, drank a little more. + +The findings of the Committee showed this clearly and they made some +recommendations, especially recommending that the Central Board for +the Control of the Liquor Traffic proceeded to do on its creation, +restriction of hours of sale. Our restrictions make the sale of liquor +legal only from 12 noon to 2.30 and from 6.30 to 8.30 or 9 P.M. Our +convictions for drunkenness for women have fallen very low and for +men, too. There is very much less drinking in our country and things +are very much improved. + +These attacks on soldiers' wives were naturally much resented as their +work in the homes and industries, with their men away, and all their +difficulties, has not always been easy. We find there is a little more +difficulty with the boys. They miss the fathers' discipline and there +has been some trouble through that, but such magnificent agencies as +the Boy Scouts, who have helped us everywhere in the war, do great +good. + +The problem of dealing with the prevention of immorality has been +a big one. The Women Patrols and the Women Police have been used in +London in Waterloo Road (which had a bad reputation) and in parks, +etc. The G.R. Volunteer Corps of men who meet the soldier arriving in +London at the stations do a very good work. + +In the Army and Navy excellent leaflets and booklets were issued +dealing with the question in a very straightforward and admirable way. + +The Council for Moral and Social Hygiene and the National Council for +Combating Venereal Diseases has been doing a great work. The latter, +which is a body set up as a result of the Government Commission on +Venereal Diseases, had done a great deal of educational work and has +set up an organization over the country. The Commission recommended +much fuller facilities for free treatment for those suffering from +these diseases in every town and district. + +A Criminal Law Amendment Bill has been brought in and it improves +our existing law in many ways and strengthens it. There has been much +controversy about certain of its provisions, some dealing with power +to send young girls to homes. There is a very strong feeling among +many of our social workers that Rescue Work in our country altogether +needs overhauling and change, and new experiments are being tried. + +Wars have almost invariably in the past meant an enormous increase in +venereal diseases on the return of the army in the civil population. +Armies lose large numbers of men by them, and every person must feel +it is their plain duty to leave no means untried and no measures +unused that could help. + +The woman who lives by her immoral earnings is, like the man who is +immoral and uncontrolled, a serious danger and menace to her country +and to generations yet unborn. + +The problems that arise from the existence of these two groups are +the business of all men and women. The problems are those of providing +decent and wholesome recreation and surroundings, of helping men and +women to meet under right conditions, of giving the right kind of +information and guidance to the soldier and the girl, of realizing +what drink does in this traffic, and the fundamental task of working +to create better social, economic and moral conditions. + +There is no need nor is it desirable to have masses of people +suffer unnecessary misery by a knowledge of the exact nature of this +disease--which leads sometimes to morbidity and often to a frenzied +desire to do something at once, before they really know anything about +the question and what has been done. + +There are three questions that ought to be answered in the affirmative +before any legislation or preventive treatment is decided on. + +Will the proposed action apply equally to men and to women, to rich +and to poor? + +Will it tend to increase and not undermine the powers of self-control? + +Will it improve morals in the nation and elevate them? + +Repressive measures by themselves achieve nothing. Preventive measures +of every practical and sound kind we want, but most of all we need +to inculcate the truth that "Self-reverence, self-knowledge, +self-control, These three alone lead man to sovereign power." + +It is not enough to prevent and teach. We should be willing to help +up, to save, to love, and we should never be self-righteous in our +help. + +Who among us has the right to cast the first stone? + + + + +WHAT THE WAR HAS DONE FOR WOMEN + + + "Give her of the fruits of her lands and let her own words + praise her in the gates." + + --PROV., Chap 31. + + + + +CHAPTER XIII + +WHAT THE WAR HAS DONE FOR WOMEN + + +The war has done already, with us, such great things for women, so +many of them so naturally accepted now, that it is almost difficult to +get back in thought, and realize where we stood when it broke out. + +General Smuts, in one of his speeches, said, "Under stress of great +difficulty practically everything breaks down ultimately, and the only +things that survive are really the simple human feelings of loyalty +and comradeship to your fellows, and patriotism, which can stand any +strain and bear you through all difficulty and privation. We soldiers +know the extraordinary value of these simple feelings, how far they go +and what strain they can bear, and how, ultimately, they support the +whole weight of civilization." + +In this war our men, in their dealings with us, have got down more and +more to simple fundamental truths and facts--loyalty and comradeship, +founded on our common patriotism. We have got nearer and nearer to the +ideal so many of us long for, equal right to serve and help. The great +fundamental establishment of political rights for women has come with +us. When war broke out, women's suffrage was winning all the time a +greater and greater mass of adherents, a majority of the House was +pledged to vote for it and had been for years, the Trade Unions and +Labour Party stood solid for it, but the motive to act seemed lacking. + +War came, and every political party in our country laid aside +political agitation. No party meetings have been held since August, +1914. Suffragists and anti-suffragists did the same. The great body of +constitutional suffragists kept their organization intact but used +it for "sustaining the vital energies of the nation." Relief Work, +Hospital Work and Supplies, Child Welfare, Comforts, Workrooms, help +for professional women, work for Belgian refugees, work in canteens +and huts, work for the Soldiers and Sailors Families' Association, +Schools for Mothers, Girls' Clubs--into everything the Suffrage +societies fling themselves with ardour, zeal and ability. No women +knew better how to organize, no women better how to educate and win +help. They formed an admirable Women's Interests Committee, and looked +after all women's interests excellently. + +When the Government issued its first appeal for women volunteers for +munitions and land, etc., it asked the Suffrage societies to circulate +them and to help them to secure the needed labour from women. + +As the war went on it became clearer and clearer that the men of +the country saw more and more vividly why suffragists had asked for +votes--and more and more were impressed with the value of their work. +At meetings to do propaganda for Government appeals, when women spoke +on the needs of the country, men everywhere, although it had nothing +to do with the appeal, and had never been mentioned, declared their +conversion to Women's Suffrage in the War. + +Women pointed out that they did not want Women's Suffrage as a +reward--but as a simple right. They had not worked for a reward, but +for their country, as any citizen would, but, in our country, the +great converting power is practical proof of value and they had that +overwhelmingly in our work. The Press came out practically solidly for +Women's Suffrage. The work of women was praised in every paper and +one declared, "It cannot be tolerable that we should return to the +old struggle about admitting them to the franchise." Eminent +Anti-Suffragists, inside and outside of the House of Commons, frankly +admitted their conversion. Mr. Asquith, the old enemy of Women's +Suffrage, said in a memorable speech: "They presented to me not only +a reasonable, but, I think, from their point of view, an unanswerable +case.... They say that when the war comes to an end, and when the +process of industrial reconstruction has to be set on foot, have not +the women a special claim to be heard on the many questions which will +arise directly affecting their interests, and possibly meaning for +them large displacement of labour? I cannot think that the House will +deny that, and, I say quite frankly, that I cannot deny that claim." +It was clear the whole question of franchise would need to be gone +into--the soldiers' vote was lost to him under our system when he was +away, and the sailors' redistribution was long overdue, an election, +as things were, would be absolutely unrepresentative. So after several +attempts to deal with the problem in sections, a Committee was set +up under the Speaker of the House of Commons to go into the whole +question of Franchise reform and registration. + +The Committee was composed of five Peers and twenty-seven members of +the House of Commons, and started its work in October, 1916, and in +its report, April, 1917, it recommended, by a majority, that a measure +of enfranchisement should be given to women. + +The National Union of Women's Suffrage Societies and the Consultative +Committee, which had been formed in 1916 by the N.U.W.S.S., of +representatives of all constitutional societies, presented various +memorials, notably an admirable memorandum of women's work and opinion +in favour, prepared by the National Union for the Speakers' Conference +during its sittings. After its recommendations while the bill was +being drafted, Mrs. Henry Fawcett, LL.D., the President of the +N.U.W.S.S., headed a deputation received by the Premier, Mr. Lloyd +George, who has always been a supporter of Women's Suffrage. This was +certainly one of the most representative and interesting deputations +that ever went to Downing Street. It numbered over fifty and every +woman in it represented a great section of industrial and war +workers--Miss Mary MacArthur, the Trade Union Leader was there, and +Miss Margaret Bondfield, Mrs. Flora Annie Steele, the authoress; Lady +Forbes Robertson, for actresses; Miss Adelaide Anderson, our +Chief Women Factory Inspector; Mrs. Oliver Strachey, Parliamentary +Honourable Secretary of the National Union, whose work has been +tireless and invaluable in the House; a woman munition worker, a woman +conductor, a railway woman worker, a woman chemist, a woman from a +bank, a clerk, a shipyard worker, a nurse, a V.A.D., an eminent +woman Doctor, a peeress in Lady Cowdray, who has done so much for the +British Women's Hospitals and so many other war objects, and women +representatives of every calling in the nation at peace and war. Mrs. +Pankhurst, who has been very active in war work, was also present on +the Premier's invitation, and Mrs. Fawcett brought a Welshwoman who +made her plea in her own language, the Premier's own, too, and the one +he loves to hear. In his reply, he assured them the bill would contain +a measure of enfranchisement for women as drafted, and he was quite +sure the House would carry it. + +The recommendations of the Speakers' Conference were an agreed +compromise, and the Representation of the People Bill, as it was +called on its introduction, has gone through very much on the lines +of the recommendations. It arranges for postal or proxy votes for +the soldier, the sailor and the merchant seaman, it simplifies the +qualifications for men, it retains the University vote for men and +extends it to women, and it enfranchises women of thirty years of age +on a residence qualification, and all wives of voters of the same age. +It disfranchises, for the time, the conscientious objector who will do +no national service. The age at which our men vote is twenty-one. The +higher age of the women was a compromise, which was accepted by all +women's societies and by labour women, though it was not the terms +they stood for--equality. + +If we had it on the same terms as men, we should very greatly +outnumber the men. There were over a million more women than men +before the war and a new electorate greater than all the men's numbers +brought in at once was not considered wise. To press for it would have +wrecked our chances. + +This measure enfranchises six million women, and about ten million men +are now voters, so we have a very fair proportion. + +The women's clause was carried, with only thirty-five dissentients and +later only seventeen voted against it. + +In this same bill, with practically no discussion, an amendment was +carried enfranchising the wives of local government electors. + +It is difficult to adequately express the confidence, the desire, and +the willingness to co-operate, that there is now between our men and +women. + +We know, too, that the great woman's movement of our country, which +has worked to this end for fifty years and numbered our greatest women +among its adherents, has had much to do with the ability of our women +to take the great part they have in this crisis. If women had not +toiled and opened education and opportunities to women, and preached +the necessity of full service, we could not have done it. + +One great thing the war has done for our women is to draw us all +closely together--in common sorrows, hopes and fears, we find how much +we are one and in so much of our work women of every rank of life +are together. We had that union before in many ways, but never so +completely as now. _Punch_ has a delightful picture that summed up +how we are mixed in soldier's canteens, and huts and buffets, and +Hospitals, which show a little Londoner saying to a meek member of the +aristocracy "washing up," "Nar, then, Lady Halexandra, 'urry up with +them plaites," and we have an amusing little play of the same kind. +The society girl who washes down the Hospital steps, and washes up for +hours, and carries meals up and down stairs in her work, week after +week, and month after month, and year after year, in our Hospitals, +knows what work is now, and the soldier who is served, and the +soldier's sister and wife, learns something, too, about her that is +worth learning. + +We have also learned a great deal in our welfare work, and the welfare +supervisors and the workers both have benefited, and the heads of +the innumerable hostels, which we have built everywhere for our +girls--dozens in our new Government-built munition cities, have been +of very real help and service to the girls. A tactful, sensible, +educated woman has a great deal to give that helps the younger girl, +and can look after and advise her as to health, work, leisure and +amusements in a way that leaves real lasting benefit. + +In the munition works, well educated women, women with plenty of +money, women who never worked before, work year after year beside the +working girl. Just at first some of the working girls were not quite +sure of her, but it is all right long, long ago, and they mutually +admire each other. The well-off woman works her hours and takes her +pay, and takes it very proudly. I have been told many times by these +women who, for the first time know the joy of earning money, "I never +felt so proud in my life as when I got my first week's money." And the +men in the factories learn a lot, too. "Women have been too much kept +back," was the comment of a foreman in a shell factory to the Chief +Woman Factory Inspector on a visit she was paying to it. The skilled +men, teaching the women, have learned a great deal about them, too, +and have helped the women in so many ways. Men have been amazed at the +ability and power and capacity for work of the women and are, on the +whole, very willing to say so and express their admiration. + +One munition girl writes: "The timekeeper, quite a gorgeous gentleman +in uniform, gave us quite a welcome.... The charge-hand of the +Welder's shop helped us to start, and stayed with us most of Friday. +He was most kind, and showed us the best way to tackle each job, did +one for us, and then watched us doing it." + +Another says, "Our foreman is a dear old man, so kind and full of fun. +The men welders are awfully good to us." + +In considering the practical facts of new opportunities for women, one +thing is clear. Masses of our women took their new work as "temporary +war workers," but as the war has gone on, it has become clearer and +clearer that, in many cases, these tasks are going to be permanently +open to women. One reason is that many of the men will never return to +take up their work again--another, that many of them will never return +to what they did before. + +They have been living in the open-air, doing such different things, +such big vistas have opened out that they will never be content to +go back to some of their tasks. There is the other fact that we, +like every other country, will need to repair and renovate so much, +will need to create new and more industries, will need to add to our +productiveness to pay off our burdens of debt, and to carry out our +schemes of reconstruction, so women will still be needed. Our women, +in still greater numbers, will not be able to marry, and the best +thing for any nation and any set of women is to do work, and there +will be plenty of room for all the work our women can do. Many will go +back to home work, of course; there are large numbers who are working +in our country, only while their husbands are away, and when they +return will find their work in their homes again. + +We are offering special training opportunities to the young widow of +the soldier or officer. + +In special branches of work our opportunities are very much greater +and better. Medicine is one of the professions in which women have +very specially made good. Better training opportunities have opened, +more funds have been raised to enable women of small means to get +medical education, and the Queen herself gave a portion of a gift of +money she received, for this purpose. Most medical appointments are +open to them now and they have been urged by the great medical bodies +to enter for training in still greater numbers in the different +Universities, and have done so. + +More research is being done by them in every department. In +professions such as accountancy, architecture, analytical chemistry, +more and more women are entering. In the banking world women have done +very satisfactory work, and one London bank manager, asked to say what +he thought of prospects after the war, says he is very strongly of +opinion it will continue to be a profession for women after the war. +This manager thinks the question of higher administrative posts being +open to women will depend entirely on themselves and their work, and +what they prove capable of achieving and holding, they will certainly +have. + +In the war, one profession, in particular, has come nearer to finding +its rightful place than ever before--the teaching profession. Their +salaries which, in too many cases, were disgracefully low, have been +raised. The woman teacher has shown her capacity in new fields of +work in the boys' schools, but it is in another sense that their +profession, both men and women, but very specially the women, have +achieved a very real gain in the war. + +The teachers of the country have done a very great deal of war work +of every kind. The National Register of 1915 was largely done by their +labour. The War Savings Associations and Committees owe a great debt +to teachers and inspectors, who are the backbone of the movement, +headmistresses are asked constantly to help in securing trained women, +taught to work in Hospitals on their holidays, on land, in organizing +supplies and comforts in canteens and clubs, and more and more are put +on official Committees in their towns and districts. + +It means the teacher is finding the status and position the teachers +in their profession ought to have in their communities, and the war +has done a great deal towards achieving that desirable end, though +there is still a good deal to be done. + +In the Government Service there has undoubtedly been great +opportunities for women, especially those of organizing, executive and +secretarial ability--and in many cases the payment in higher posts +is identical for men and women, and higher posts, if they have the +ability, are freely given to women and the whole position of women +in our Civil Service is improved. In the very highest posts, such as +those of Insurance and Feeble-minded Commissioners, etc., women before +the war received the same salaries as men. + +The organizing ability and the common sense way in which our women +in voluntary organization, quite rapidly, themselves decided what +organizations were unnecessary and merely duplicating others, and +refused to help them, so that they died out quite quickly, roused +admiration, and the war has educated vast numbers of women in +organization and executive ability. Women who never in their lives +organized anything, and never kept an account properly, are doing +all kinds of useful work. One nice middle-aged lady whose War Savings +Association accounts were being kept wrongly, or rather were not +really being kept at all, when told they must be done fully and +correctly by one of our National Committee representatives, said, "Oh, +but you see, I never did anything but crochet before the war"; but we +have succeeded in making even the crochet ladies keep accounts and do +wonderful things. + +In the great world of mechanics and engineering, women are doing +a wonderful amount of work and, there is no doubt, will remain in +certain departments after the war. One danger there is in the women's +attitude--so many of our women have learned one branch of work very +quickly, that there probably will be a tendency to believe that +anything can be learned as easily. There are only certain departments +of mechanics that can be learned in a few months' time, and women will +probably go on doing these. Such work as theirs in optical munitions, +has shown their very special aptitude for it and in law-making, +etc., they will be used more and more. Women have successfully done +tool-setting and can go on with that. The training for civil and +mechanical engineering is long, but there will be, if women are +keen and will train, plenty of opportunity for them in peace-time +occupations in civil, mechanical or electrical branches in connection +with municipal, sanitary and household questions and in laundries, +farms, etc. The women architects and these women could very well +co-operate closely. + +Women clerks and secretaries will remain largely after the war. +Fewer men will want these posts as we are convinced there will be big +movements among our men to more active work, to the land and to the +Dominions overseas. + +Women on the land will in numbers stay there, and there is a distinct +movement among women with capital to go in for farming, market +gardening, bee-keeping, poultry-keeping, etc., still more. + +The war has made more of our fathers and mothers realize the right +of their daughters to education and training, and there are very few +parents in our country now, who think a girl needs to know nothing +very practical, and has no need to go in for a profession. Our women's +colleges have more students than ever and the war has done great +things in breaking down these old conventional ideas. The war, in +fact, has shaken the very foundations of the old Victorian beliefs in +the limited sphere of women to atoms. Our sphere is now very much more +what every human being's sphere is and ought to be--the place and work +in which our capacity, ability or genius finds its fullest vent--and +there is no need to worry about restricting women or anyone else to +particular spheres--if they cannot do it, they cannot fill the sphere, +and that test decides. The dear old Victorian dugouts grow fewer and +fewer in number, but we never must forget that the great powers of +women have not come in a night, miraculously, in the war. They are the +result of long years of patient work before, and we women, who have +had these great opportunities, must see to it that we nobly carry on +the traditions of teaching and training and qualifying ourselves for +service, bequeathed to us from older generations. + +One thing, too, despite the war tasks and strain, we have not lost +sight of the fact that the great fundamental tasks of keeping the +house, guarding and seeing to the children must be well done. Just for +a little, some of our tasks of child welfare had fewer workers, but +many of the women realized the value of all these tasks as supreme, +and took up the work freely. Child welfare work in particular the +Suffrage woman organized and worked, Glasgow Suffragists taking on the +visiting of babies, always done there, in a whole ward of the city, +and in other towns they started Day Nurseries. + +Lord Rhondda at the Local Government Board instituted Baby week and +we hope to found a Ministry of Health very soon. So in the War we have +realized even more vividly how great and valuable and important these +tasks of women are. A very great amount of work for child welfare has +been done by our women in the war, and our infant death rate is going +still lower. + +The war has done a great service in drawing women of all the Allied +Nations together--a service whose greatness and magnitude it is not +easy to fully realize. French and English men and women know so much +more of each other now. Our hospitals in France, our Canteens for +French Soldiers, as well as our own, our women and the French women +working side by side in our army clerical departments and ordnance +depots in France, the Belgians and French who are among us in such +large numbers, make us known to each other. In Serbia we have made +many friends and in Italy and Russia and Romania, all links for the +future, and helps to wider knowledge and understanding. It is on +understanding the hopes of the world rest, and we women have a great +part to play in that. + +With America our link has always been very great and all the help, +and gifts, and service America gave us before it entered the war, +have been very precious to us. American women have given Hospitals +and ambulances and everything possible in the way of succour and of +service, and have died with our women in nursing service, as the men +have in our ranks. + +Massachusetts sent a nurse to France, Miss Alice Fitzgerald, in memory +of Edith Cavell, which shows the unity of your feeling and ours +on that tragic execution, and her work under our War Office in +Queen Alexandra's Imperial Army Nursing Service with the British +Expeditionary Force, as well as the work of all the American nurses we +have had helping us, is another link in the great chain. Our own great +Commonwealth of Nations are nearer to each other than ever before. +There were even people among us who thought a little as the enemy did +that our Dominions would not stand by us--stupid and blind people. + +It is their fight as well as ours--the common fight of all free +peoples, and all our united nations stand together, including those +who only a few years ago were fighting us as brave foes. + +We have learned so much in great ways and in small ways, in economies +and in the care of all our resources, too. We women are more careful +in Britain now. We save food, and grow more, and produce more, and +maids and mistresses work together to economize and help. We gather +our waste paper and sell it or give it to the Red Cross for their +funds, give our bottles and our rags, waste no food and save and lend +our money. We could not have been called a thrifty nation before the +war--we are much more thrifty now, in many ways, though there are +still things we could learn. + +In the Women's Army and in so much of our work we are learning +discipline and united service--learning what it means to be proud of +your corps and to feel the uniform you wear or the badge is something +you must be worthy of--and it goes back to being worthy of your own +flag and of the ideals for which we all stand in these days. + +And the young wives who are married and left behind, who bear their +children with their husbands far away in danger, who have had no real +homes yet, but who wait and hope, they are very wonderful in their +courage and pluck--and, most of all, everywhere, our women, like our +men, wisely refuse to be dreary. There are enough secret dark hours, +but in our work we carry on cheerfully, the women know the soldiers' +slogan, "Cheero," and to Britain and to "somewhere on the fronts," the +same message goes and comes. + +Of the great spiritual worths and values, it has brought to women very +much what it has brought to men. All eternal things are more real, all +eternal truths more clearly perceived. When the whole foundations of +life rock under us, in where "there is no change, neither shadow of +turning," the heart rests more surely in these days. + +It has brought us agonies and tears, weariness and pain, self-denial +and great sorrows, but it has brought such riches of self-sacrifice, +such service, such love, has shown us such peaks of revelation and +vision to which the soul and the nation can attain, that we count +ourselves rich, though so much has gone. + +To think of what we might have been if we had refused to bear our +share--to look back on the evils of luxury and selfishness that were +creeping over us, makes us feel that we may have lost some things, +but "what shall it profit a man if he gain the whole world and lose +his own soul." And we have saved our soul. The souls of the nations +travail in a new birth through a night of agony and tears. The +purposes being worked out are so great, that it is difficult for us +to see them with our limited human vision, but in great moments of +insight we do see, and having seen, go back to our tasks in the light +of that vision, knowing that though now we fight in dim shadows with +monstrous and awful evils of mankind's creation, the day is coming +nearer and the light will come. + +An age is dying and a new age comes, and what it shall be only the men +and women of the world can answer. + + + + +RECONSTRUCTION + + + "The tumult and the shouting dies-- + The captains and the Kings depart-- + Still stands thine ancient sacrifice, + An humble and a contrite heart. + Lord God of Hosts; be with us yet, + Lest we forget, lest we forget." + + --RUDYARD KIPLING. + + "We shall not cease from mental fight, + Nor shall our sword sleep in our hand, + Till we have built Jerusalem, + In England's green and pleasant land." + + --W. BLAKE. + + + + +CHAPTER XIV + +RECONSTRUCTION + + +And what is to come after? The first and the last and the greatest +thing to do is to win the war and to get the right settlement. Unless +we finish this struggle with the nations free, there can be no real +reconstruction. The greatest work of reconstruction--the fundamental +work--will be at the peace table. Those who are giving everything +and doing everything to gain victory for the Allies, are the true +reconstructors of the world. + +The first great task of reconstruction is victory and the second is +right peace settlements. + +We cannot say that anything we can do will make future peace certain, +but we can see that just and righteous settlements are made, so that +the foundations are laid that ought to ensure peace in the future. +There is no real peace possible while injustices exist. + +There is no real peace possible while evil and good contend for +mastery, and the spiritual conflicts of man are, and will be, as +terrible as any physical conflicts. While mankind stands where it does +now, it is well that against corruption of spirit and thought, we can +use our bodies as shields. + +The fact that we have had to fight Germany physically, shows clearly +that spiritually and mentally we were unable to make them see truth +and honour, and the meaning of freedom, and that the ideal of peace +made no real appeal to them. + +They built up in their nation great thought forces of aggression, of +belief in militarism, of worship of might, of belief that war paid, +and was in itself good, that there was no conscience higher than the +state. They even worship God as a sort of tribal God whom they call +upon to work with them--not a question as to whether they are on God's +side--no--an assertion that God is on theirs. + +That was their thought--and the thoughts of the other nations were +bent on problems of freedom and growing democracy, of widening +opportunities, of political and commercial interest, were, on the +whole, the vaguely good thoughts of evolving democracies (with notable +exceptions), but not the clear powerful thoughts needed to fight +effectually those of Germany in the fields of intellect and spirit. + +People did not see the full evil of Germany's thought--it was tied up +with so much that was efficient and good and able, and we were only +half articulate as to our own beliefs, and not even thoroughly clear +or agreed about them, and Germany considered us slack and inefficient, +and believed we might even be induced to consent to seeing Europe +overrun and doing nothing. We did not believe, despite warning, that +any nation thought as Germany did and we seemed, in their minds, to be +people to be dominated and swept over. + +One interesting fact to note is that Germany, despite its boasted +knowledge of psychology, did not realise that England possesses a +definite sub-conscious mind which always guides its actions. The +sub-conscious mind of England is a desire for fair play, for justice, +and a very definite sense of freedom. England is the creator of +self-government and its sub-conscious mind, built up for centuries, +is a very definite and real thing. + +The sub-conscious mind of Germany, filled with these dominating ideas +of power and _Weltmacht_ and militarism, goes on, once set free, to +its logical end, and it seems clearer and clearer that there is no +real end to this struggle till we make the mind and soul of Germany +realize its crimes and mistakes, till they are sane again and talk the +A, B, C of civilization. The real reconstruction of the world begins +there. + +That end reached and settlements justly done, we may consider schemes +for a League of Nations and practical possibilities of work in +international organizations to prevent disputes leading to war. + +The work of reconstruction must be international, as well as national, +but the people who do, and will do, the best international work +are the people who do the best national work. The individuals who +are not prepared to spend time and service and effort to make +their own country better and nobler, are going to do nothing for +internationalism that is worth doing. The heart that finds nothing to +love and work for in its neighbour is the heart that has nothing to +bring to the whole world. + +Again, there must be reparation by the enemy. We cannot reconstruct +this world rightly if we do not enforce justice. A nation that has +broken every international and human law is a nation that must be made +to pay for its crimes as far as human justice can secure it. + +Our six thousand murdered merchant seamen, the thousands of passengers +they have killed, the civilians they have bombed, are marshalled +against them, and the horrors of their frightfulness, deliberately +planned and carried out against the peoples they have held in bondage, +their refusal to even feed properly their prisoners and captive +people--are we to be told to reconstruct a world without reparation +for these and their other crimes? + +We shall have a reconstructed world with right foundations, only when +the nations know that justice is throned internationally, and that +every crime is to be judged and punished. There can be no new world +without living faith, without real religion. A cheap and sentimental +humanitarism is no substitute for real faith--philosophies that seem +adequate in ordinary times are poor things when the soul of man +stands stripped of all its trappings and faces death and suffering and +watches agonies. Then the abiding eternal soul knows its own reality +and its oneness with the Divine and eternal, and the sacrifice of +Christ is a real living thing--and in the men's sacrifice they are +very near to Him. + +So the Churches are being tested, too, in this great crisis, and in a +reconstructed world we shall want Churches that carry the message of +Christianity with a clearer and firmer voice, but that is the task of +all believers. We cannot cast the duty of making the Church a living +witness on our priests alone--it is our work, and unless our faith +goes into everything we do, it is no use. People who profess a faith, +and carefully shut it up in a compartment of their lives, so that +it has no real connection with their work, are worse than honest +doubters--because they betray what they profess. + +So reconstruction rests upon great spiritual tasks and values, and +upon the willingness and ability of the nations to carry these out. + +In our country, our political parties are going to be changed and +reconstructed. The Labour Party has already made a big appeal +to "brain and hand workers," and has announced its scheme of +re-organization. + +One definite result of the war in the minds of the people of our +country is the definite mental discarding of state socialism of the +bureaucratic kind as a conceivable system of government. We have seen +bureaucracy at work to a great extent, and shall undoubtedly have +to continue control in many ways after peace comes, but we do not +like it. Socialism will have to go on to new lines of thought and +development if it wishes to achieve anything--and the most interesting +thought and schemes are on the lines of Guild Socialism. + +How the great Liberal and Unionist Parties will emerge, we cannot +say--but this we know, they will be different. We have a new +electorate, more men and the women, and the opinion and needs of the +women will undoubtedly affect our political reconstruction. Most of +us, in the war, have entirely ceased to care for party; even the most +fierce of partisans have changed, and the "party appeal," in itself, +will be of little account in our country. + +I feel sure we shall scrutinize measures and men and programmes more +carefully, and the work of educating our women will be part of the +women's great tasks in reconstruction. + +Our ability to reconstruct and renew rests fundamentally upon our +financial condition--even the power to make the best peace terms rests +upon it. Crippled countries cannot stand out for the best terms, so +finance is all-important. + +The democratic nature of our loans is all-important, too. We have had +people suggesting that these loans would be repudiated--a suggestion +that is not only absurd, but is humorous when one realizes that about +ten million of our people have invested in them. To get a House of +Commons elected that would repudiate these loans would be a difficult +task. + +The widespread nature of the loans is sound for the people and the +Government, and will help us not only to win the war, but, what is +still more important, "to win the peace." We have in this struggle +paid more and better wages to our people than ever before, conditions +have been improved, masses of our people have led a fuller existence +than ever before. We want to make these and still better conditions +permanent. We cannot do that by a military victory only--we can only +do it by finishing financially sound, and the man or woman who saves +now and invests is one of our soundest reconstructors. + +In the readjustments in industry that must come there will be +temporary displacements, and the money invested will be invaluable +to those affected. In our great task of reorganizing industries, of +renovating and repairing, of building up new works and adding to our +productiveness, finance is all-important. We shall need large sums for +the development of our industry, for the transferring of war work back +to peace pursuits, for the opening up of new industries and work, for +the development of trade abroad and the selfish using up of resources +that could be conserved, makes the work harder--might even, if +extravagantly large, cripple us seriously at the end of this struggle. + +The sacrifices of our men can achieve military victory, but weakness +and self-indulgence at home can take the fruits of their victories +away. + +Those who are working and saving in our War Savings Movement are so +convinced of its value, not only to the state, but to the individual, +and for the character of our people, that they have expressed the very +strongest conviction that it should go on after the War, and it will +probably remain in our reconstruction. + +We have also urged the wisdom of saving for the children's education +and for dots for daughters, so that our young women may have some +money in emergencies, or something of their own on marriage, and both +of these are being done. + +The great problem of education bulks very large in our reconstruction +schemes. A new Education Bill for England and Wales has been prepared +by Mr. Fisher--and his appointment is in itself a sign of our new +attitude. He is Minister of Education and is really an educationist, +having been Vice-Chancellor of Sheffield University when given the +appointment. His Bill puts an end to that stigma on English education, +the half-time system in Lancashire, and raises the age for leaving +school to what it has been in Scotland for some years--sixteen years +of age. It provides greater opportunities for secondary and technical +training and improves education in every way. Its passage, or the +passage of a still better Bill, is essential for any real work in +reconstruction. + +There are other schemes of education being planned and considered, and +women are working with men on the education committee of the Ministry +of Reconstruction. + +The land question is all-important in reconstruction. We have fixed a +minimum price for wheat for five years, as well as minimum wages for +the labourers on land, men and women, and we have schemes and land +for the settlement of soldiers. It is safe to predict that agriculture +will be better looked after than it was before the war, and that we +have learned a valuable lesson on food production, and the value of +being more self-supporting. + +There are people who talk airily and foolishly of "revolutions after +the war"--of great labour troubles, of exorbitant and impossible +demands, of irreconcilable quarrels. These people are themselves the +creators and begettors of trouble, and mischievous in the highest +degree. They belong, though they are much less attractive, to the same +category as the person who tells you that the moral regeneration of +the world is coming from this great war. + +The "revolutionists" have to learn that there is no need to have any +such crises happen, that they can only happen if we are foolish beyond +belief and conception--for we have learned in this war how great and +ample is the common meeting ground of all of us, how impossible it is +for anyone to believe that we, who have fought together, suffered +and lost together, while our men have died together, cannot find in +consideration of claims enough common sense and wisdom to prevent any +such disaster. + +And one wonders where the people are going to be found who are going +to be so unjust to the workers as to provide any reason for such +dangers to be feared, for we know one thing in the war, that in the +trenches, on the sea, behind the trenches and carrying on at home, the +workers have done the greater part--and they, in their turn, know all +others have borne their share. Out of such common knowledge and the +consciousness that the practical work of democracy is to raise its +people more and more, we shall have not revolution, but evolution of +the best kind. And the moral regeneration of the world will come if we +reconstruct the one thing that matters most and that is fundamental +to all--ourselves--and it will not come if we do not. When one +has said everything there is to be said of schemes and hopes of +reconstruction--about the schemes for better homes, and a great +housing scheme is wisely one of the foundation schemes of our +reconstruction, for which plans are now being prepared, about schemes +for the care of children, about schemes for endowment of motherhood, +which are exercising the minds of many of our women, you are back +again to the individual. When you think of education schemes, and +schemes for teaching national service to the young, of work to +teach care and thrift, you are back again to the problem of creating +character. + +When you go into the great world of industry and its problems, of care +of the workers in health and sickness, of securing justice and full +opportunities, of developing and wisely using our resources, again you +return to the individual. + +When you want to make the art and beauty of life accessible to all, +you come back to the question as to the individual's desire for it and +appreciation of it. + +Schemes in theory may be perfect--reconstruction may be planned +without a flaw--but what does that help if we as individuals are blind +and selfish? + +The regeneration of the world cannot come from the sacrifice of our +men alone, or even of some of us at home. The few may save countries +and do great things, but the work of reconstruction rests on +everybody. Nations are made up of individuals, and a nation cannot +hope for moral and social regeneration except through individual +self-denial, self-sacrifice and service. + +It is in our own hearts and our own minds that the great task of +reconstruction must be done. + +The greatest task of reconstruction for most of us is to make all +our actions worthy of our highest self--to bring to the problems that +confront us, not one detached and prejudiced bit of us, but the whole +mind and spirit of ourselves--the best of us always in unity. + +That is life's greatest task, and calls for all we have to give, and +all we are. There lies true reconstruction and the hope of all the +world. + + + + +APPENDIX + + + + +APPENDIX + + +American Women's War Relief Fund, 123 Victoria Street, London, S.W. 1. + +Association of Infant Consultation and Schools for Mothers, 4 +Tavistock Square, London, W.C. 1. + +British Women's Hospital, Bond Street, London, W. 1. + +Glove Waistcoat Society, 75 Chancery Lane, E.C. 4. + +Ministry of Food, Mrs. Pember Reeves, Mrs. C.S. Peel, Grosvenor House, +W. 1. + +National Federation of Women's Workers. + +Women's Trade Union League, 34 Mecklenburgh Square, W.C. 1. + +National Union of Women's Suffrage Societies. + +Scottish Women's Hospitals, 62 Oxford Street, W.C. 1. + +Women's Interests Committee, 62 Oxford Street, W.C.I. + +National War Savings Committee, Salisbury Square, E.C. 4. + +National Union of Women Workers (Women Patrols), Parliament Mansions, +Victoria Street, S.W.I. + +Queen Mary's Needlework Guild, St. James Palace, S.W.I. + +National Food Economy League, 3 Woodstock Street, Oxford Street, +W.C.I. + +Prisoners of War, Help Committee, 4 Thurloe Place, Brompton Road, W. + +Women's Army Auxiliary Corps, Devonshire House, W. 1. + +Women's Branch, Food Production Department, Board of Agriculture, 72 +Victoria Street, S.W.I. + +Women's Service Bureau, L.S.W.S., 58 Victoria Street, S.W. 1. + +Women's National Land Service Corps, 50 Upper Baker Street, W. 1. + +Women Police Service, St. Stephens House, Westminster, S.W.I. + +Young Women's Christian Association, 25 George Street, Hanover Square, +W. 1. + +V.A.D., Lady Ampthill, Devonshire House, W. 1. + + * * * * * + +MINISTRY OF MUNITIONS + + + +PUBLICATIONS OF HEALTH OF MUNITION WORKERS' COMMITTEE + + +The following Memoranda have been prepared by the Committee and +issued: + +No. 1--Sunday Labour. + +No. 2--Welfare Supervision. + +No. 3--Industrial Canteens. + +No. 4--Employment of Women. + +No. 5--Hours of Work. + +No. 6--Canteen Construction and Equipment (Appendix to No. 3). + +No. 7--Industrial Fatigue and Its Causes. No. 8--Special Industrial +Diseases. + +No. 9--Ventilation and Lighting of Munition Factories and Workshops. + +No. 10--Sickness and Injury. + +No. 11--Investigation of Workers' Food and Suggestions as to Dietary. +(Report by Leonard E. Hill, F.R.S.) + +No. 12--Statistical Information Concerning Output in Relation to Hours +of Work. (Report by H.M. Vernon, M.D.) + +No. 13--Juvenile Employment. + +No. 14--Washing Facilities and Baths. + +No. 15--The Effect of Industrial Conditions Upon Eyesight. + +No. 16--Medical Certificates for Munition Workers. + +also, Feeding the Munition Worker. + + +Published by H.M. STATIONERY OFFICE, + +London, W.C. + + + + + +--------------------------------------------------------------+ + |You have read this book and you will agree with the Publisher | + |that it ought to have an immediate and wide distribution. Will| + |you help him to eliminate wasteful advertising by sending the | + |post card enclosed, giving your opinion of the book to one of | + |your friends. | + \ / + \ / + ---------------------------------------------------------- + | AND | + ---------------------------------------------------------- + / \ + / \ + |Since you have probably seen the imprint of G. Arnold Shaw | + |on a book for the first time, will you spend a few minutes | + |scanning the following pages, to discover what the best | + |critical opinion is upon other recent Shaw publications. They | + |are intended for the discriminating few as our trademark, | + |"Aere Perennius"--"more lasting than brass," indicates. | + +--------------------------------------------------------------+ + + + +BOOKS BY MEMBERS OF THE UNIVERSITY LECTURERS + +A significant proof of the growth of the Association's influence in +recent years is afforded by the fact that our Secretary, Mr. G. Arnold +Shaw, has been enabled to enter the publishing field successfully. We +reverse thus the plan of campaign of the ordinary lecture bureau which +is usually impressed with the possibilities of a man who has won fame +as an author rather than as a lecturer; we discover that a man is a +first rate lecturer and then we proceed to make him an author--also of +the front rank as the reviews quoted below show. + +ART AND ARCHITECTURE + +BY IAN C. HANNAH, F.S.A. + + Some Irish Religious Houses........ .50 + Irish Cathedrals................... .50 + +BY I.B. STOUGHTON HOLBORN + + The Need for Art in Life. (Third Thousand)........... .75 + "One of the greatest little books of the Age."--Boston Transcript. + + Architectures of European Religions, Illustrated.... 2.00 + +AUTOBIOGRAPHY + +The interest of these books depend not merely upon the interesting +personality of the famous lecturer and the equally fascinating +personalities of his two brothers, but also on the exquisite literary +style to which the critics have paid such eloquent testimony. + +BY JOHN COWPER POWYS AND LLEWELLYN POWYS + + Confessions of Two Brothers....... 1.50 + +BY THEODORE FRANCIS POWYS + + The Soliloquy of a Hermit......... 1.00 + This book can be compared to Amiel's Journal in the opinion of a + prominent London publisher. + + + + +ESSAYS AND CRITICISM + + +The essays contained in the following books deal with the best lecture +subjects of our various members; they are specially recommended to +those who wish to pursue further the study outlined in our lecture +courses. + +BY I.B. STOUGHTON HOLBORN + + THE NEED FOR ART IN LIFE........... 75 + + "The thoughtful man who reads it will feel that a new + classic has been added to the world's literature."--BOSTON + TRANSCRIPT. + + +BY JOHN COWPER POWYS + + VISIONS AND REVISIONS, A Book of Literary Devotions 2.00 + + "Seventeen essays remarkable for the omission of all that is + tedious and cumbersome in literary appreciations."--REVIEW + OF REVIEWS. + + + SUSPENDED JUDGMENTS, Essays on Books and Sensations 2.00 + + "Anything written by John Cowper Powys is arresting and thrilling. + This is superlatively true of his essays in literary + criticism."--CINCINNATI ENQUIRER. + + "A book of infinite delight to the book lover, for few present day + writers have the ability in the same measure as Mr. Powys + to express every shade of impression and sensation, and + his ripe judgment will appeal to all."--BOSTON GLOBE. + + + ONE HUNDRED BEST BOOKS, with commentary and an + essay on Books and Reading.............. 75 + + "Of each of the hundred books he gives a brief, sparkling, + thoroughly informative and delightfully interesting + critical view. If book reviewers could do the job as well + as Mr. Powys, the book pages would be the most popular + part of a newspaper."--EVENING TELEGRAM, PHILADELPHIA. + + * * * * * + +FICTION + + +Critics of literature seldom succeed as creative artists and so it +is specially remarkable that the highest authorities give even more +unqualified praise to the fiction of our members than to their +essays. We need not emphasize further our lack of appreciation for +the literary value of "best-sellers"; our aim has not been to produce +topical tracts for the times but novels that will survive. It is more +to us that competent critics should compare Mr. Powys' fiction to that +of Hardy, Dostoievsky and Emily Bronte than that the public should buy +it by the hundred thousand. Those who are not convinced that "you can +place 'Wood and Stone' unhesitatingly at the side of Dostoievsky's +masterpieces" should reflect that this is not the over-enthusiasm of +"America's newest Publisher" but the verdict of a London publisher +who has long held a pre-eminent position; it is therefore peculiarly +satisfactory to point out that our first novel "Wood and Stone" was + +PUBLISHED UNDER THE IMPRINT OF + +WILLIAM HEINEMANN G. ARNOLD SHAW + + [Illustration] [Illustration] + + IN LONDON IN NEW YORK + +FICTION + + BY IAN CAMPBELL HANNAH + QUAKER-BORN, A ROMANCE OF THE GREAT WAR............ 1.35 + + BY I.B. STOUGHTON HOLBORN + THE CHILD OF THE MOAT, A story of 1557 for girls... 1.25 + "Of such absorbing interest and literary merit that it + will doubtless take its place among the classics."--ART + AND ARCHAEOLOGY. + + BY JOHN COWPER POWYS + WOOD AND STONE, A Romance reminiscent of the + great Dostoievsky ................................. 1.75 + + "One of the best novels of the year."--EVENING POST, + NEW YORK. + + "His mastery of language, his knowledge of human + impulses, his interpretation of the forces of nature + and of the power of inanimate objects over human + beings, all pronounce him a writer of no mean rank. + He can express philosophy in terms of narrative + without prostituting his art; he can suggest an + answer without drawing a moral; with a clearer + vision he could stand among the masters in literary + achievement."--BOSTON TRANSCRIPT. + + "Psychologically speaking, it is one of the most remarkable + pieces of fiction ever written."--CHICAGO TRIBUNE. + + RODMOOR, A Romance of the old Thrilling Romantic + Order............1.50 + + "It is so far above the average English and American + fiction that one can well exempt it from the necessity + of following the rules. He has intellect, he has taste, + he has a sure instinct for what is aesthetically fine. + These qualities in themselves make his 'Rodmoor' a + novel of exceptional distinction."--BOSTON TRANSCRIPT. + + "Without exception the most exquisitely written + novel of the year."--ATLANTIC MONTHLY. + +HISTORY AND TRAVEL + + BY IAN CAMPBELL HANNAH, M.A., D.C.L., F.S.A. + Eastern Asia, A history 2.50 + Capitals of the Northlands, A Tale of ten cities 2.00 + The Heart of East Anglia (A History of Norwich) 2.00 + The Berwick and Lothian Coast 2.00 + + +POETRY + + BY I.B. STOUGHTON HOLBORN + CHILDREN OF FANCY 2.00 + "A Notable volume of Verse."--Boston Globe. + + BY JOHN COWPER POWYS + WOLF'S-BANE 1.25 + "We hesitate to say how many years it is necessary + to go back in order to find their equals in + sheer poetic originality."--Evening Post, New York. + MANDRAGORA 1.25 + + +THE WAR + + BY IAN CAMPBELL HANNAH + ARMS AND THE MAP 1.25 + + BY JOHN COWPER POWYS + THE WAR AND CULTURE .60 + "More weighty than many of the more pretentious + treatises on the subject."--The Nation. + +Any of the above books sent post-free on receipt of price by + +[Illustration: (G. ARNOLD SHAW PUBLISHER, NEW YORK)] + + * * * * * + +RECOMMENDED BY THE A.L.A. BOOKLIST + +SPECIALLY SUITABLE FOR SCHOOLS AND COLLEGES + +ARMS AND THE MAP + +A STUDY IN NATIONALITIES AND FRONTIERS + +BY IAN CAMPBELL HANNAH, M.A., D.C.L. + +12mo, 256 pages, $1.25 net + +This work, which has had a large sale in England, will be invaluable +when the terms of peace begin to be seriously discussed. Every +European people is reviewed and the evolution of the different +nationalities is carefully explained. Particular reference is made +to the so-called "Irredentist" lands, whose people want to be under +a different flag from that under which they live. + +The colonizing methods of all the nations are dealt with, and +especially the place in the sun that Germany hasn't got. + + NEW YORK TIMES says: "Such a volume as this will undoubtedly + be of value in presenting ... facts of great importance in a + brief and interesting fashion." + + BROOKLYN DAILY EAGLE says: "It is hard to find a man who + presents his arguments so broad-mindedly as Dr. Hannah. His + spirit is that of a catholic scholar striving earnestly to + find the truth and present it sympathetically." + + PHILADELPHIA NORTH AMERICAN says: "It is in no sense history, + but rather a preparatory effort to mark broadly the outlines + of any future peace settlement that would have even a fighting + chance of permanency. Only in perusing a critical study of + this character can the vast problems of post-bellum imminence + be fully apprehended." + + PHILADELPHIA PRESS says: "His work is immensely readable and + particularly interesting at this time and will throw much + fresh light on the situation." + +OTHER BOOKS BY IAN C. HANNAH + + Eastern Asia, A History $2.50 + Capitals of the Northlands (A tale of ten cities) 2.00 + The Berwick and Lothian Coast (in the County Coast Series) 2.00 + The Heart of East Anglia (A History of Norwich) 2.00 + Some Irish Religious Houses (Reprinted from the + _Archæological Journal_) 50c + Irish Cathedrals (Reprinted from the _Archæological Journal_) 50c + +G. ARNOLD SHAW PUBLISHER TO THE UNIVERSITY LECTURERS ASSOCIATION + + * * * * * + +GRAND CENTRAL TERMINAL NEW YORK + + * * * * * + +RECOMMENDED BY THE A.L.A. BOOKLIST + +ADOPTED FOR REQUIRED READING BY THE PITTSBURGH TEACHERS READING CIRCLE + +VISIONS AND REVISIONS + +A BOOK OF LITERARY DEVOTIONS + +BY JOHN COWPER POWYS + +8vo, 298 pp. Half White Cloth with Blue Fabriano Paper Sides, $2.00 +net + +This volume of essays on Great Writers by the well-known lecturer +was the first of a series of three books with the same purpose as the +author's brilliant lectures; namely, to enable one to discriminate +between the great and the mediocre in ancient and modern literature: +the other two books being "One Hundred Best Books" and "Suspended +Judgments." + +Within a year of its publication, four editions of "Visions and +Revisions" were printed--an extraordinary record considering that +it was only the second book issued by a new publisher. The value of +the book to the student and its interest for the general reader are +guaranteed by the international fame of the author as an interpreter +of great literature and by the enthusiastic reviews it received from +the American Press. + + REVIEW OF REVIEWS, New York: "Seventeen essays ... remarkable + for the omission of all that is tedious and cumbersome + in literary appreciations, such as pedantry, muckraking, + theorizing, and, in particular, constructive criticism." + + BOOK NEWS MONTHLY, Philadelphia: "Not one line in the entire + book that is not tense with thought and feeling. With + all readers who crave mental stimulation ... 'Visions and + Revisions' is sure of a great and enthusiastic appreciation." + + THE NATION AND THE EVENING POST, New York: "Their imagery is + bright, clear and frequently picturesque. The rhythm falls + with a pleasing cadence on the ear." + + BROOKLYN DAILY EAGLE: "A volume of singularly acute and + readable literary criticism." + + CHICAGO HERALD: "An essayist at once scholarly, human and + charming is John Cowper Powys.... Almost every page carries + some arresting thought, quaintly appealing phrase, or picture + spelling passage." + + REEDY'S MIRROR, St. Louis: "Powys keeps you wide awake in the + reading because he's thinking and writing from the standpoint + of life, not of theory or system. Powys has a system but it is + hardly a system. It is a sort of surrender to the revelation + each writer has to make." + + KANSAS CITY STAR: "John Cowper Powys' essays are wonderfully + illuminating.... Mr. Powys writes in at least a semblance of + the Grand Style." + +"Visions and Revisions" contains the following essays:-- + + Rabelais Dickens Thomas Hardy + Dante Goethe Walter Pater + Shakespeare Matthew Arnold Dostoievsky + El Greco Shelley Edgar Allan Poe + Milton Keats Walt Whitman + Charles Lamb Nietzsche Conclusion + +G. ARNOLD SHAW PUBLISHER TO THE UNIVERSITY LECTURERS ASSOCIATION + +GRAND CENTRAL TERMINAL NEW YORK + + * * * * * + +SUSPENDED JUDGMENTS + +ESSAYS ON BOOKS AND SENSATIONS + +BY JOHN COWPER POWYS + +8vo. about 400 pages. Half cloth with blue Fabriano paper sides $2.00 +net + +_The Book News Monthly_ said of "Visions and Revisions": + +"Not one line in the entire book that is not tense with thought and +feeling." + +The author of "Visions and Revisions" says of this new book of essays: + +"In 'Suspended Judgments' I have sought to express with more +deliberation and in a less spasmodic manner than in 'Visions,' the +various after-thoughts and reactions both intellectual and sensational +which have been produced in me, in recent years, by the re-reading of +my favorite writers. I have tried to capture what might be called the +'psychic residuum' of earlier fleeting impressions and I have tried +to turn this emotional aftermath into a permanent contribution--at any +rate for those of similar temperament--to the psychology of literary +appreciation. + +"To the purely critical essays in this volume I have added a certain +number of others dealing with what, in popular parlance, are called +'general topics,' but what in reality are always--in the most extreme +sense of that word--personal to the mind reacting from them. I have +called the book 'Suspended Judgments' because while one lives, one +grows, and while one grows, one waits and expects." + +SUSPENDED JUDGMENTS CONTAINS THESE ESSAYS: + +THE ART OF DISCRIMINATION IN LITERATURE + + MONTAIGNE EMILY BRONTE + PASCAL JOSEPH CONRAD + VOLTAIRE HENRY JAMES + ROUSSEAU OSCAR WILDE + BALZAC AUBREY BEARDSLEY + VICTOR HUGO + DE MAUPASSANT FRIENDS + ANATOLE FRANCE RELIGION + PAUL VERLAINE LOVE + REMY DE GOURMONT CITIES + WILLIAM BLAKE MORALITY + BYRON EDUCATION + +G. ARNOLD SHAW PUBLISHER TO THE UNIVERSITY LECTURERS ASSOCIATION + + GRAND CENTRAL TERMINAL NEW YORK + + * * * * * + + +ONE HUNDRED BEST BOOKS + +WITH COMMENTARY AND AN ESSAY ON + +BOOKS AND READING + +BY JOHN COWPER POWYS + + +This list is designed to supply the need of persons who wish to +acquire a general knowledge of such books in world-literature as are +at once exciting and thrilling to the ordinary mind and written in the +style of the masters. It recognizes the fact that modern people are +most interested in modern books; but it recognizes also that such +books, to be worthy of this interest, must uphold the classical +tradition of manner and form. + +80 Pages 12mo. 75 Cents + +[Illustration: (G. ARNOLD SHAW PUBLISHER. NEW YORK)] + + + +***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK WOMEN AND WAR WORK*** + + +******* This file should be named 14676-8.txt or 14676-8.zip ******* + + +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: +https://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/1/4/6/7/14676 + + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at <a href = "https://www.gutenberg.org">www.gutenberg.org</a></pre> +<p>Title: Women and War Work</p> +<p>Author: Helen Fraser</p> +<p>Release Date: January 12, 2005 [eBook #14676]</p> +<p>Language: English</p> +<p>Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1</p> +<p>***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK WOMEN AND WAR WORK***</p> +<p> </p> +<h4>E-text prepared by Audrey Longhurst, William Flis,<br /> + and the Project Gutenberg Online Distributed Proofreading Team</h4> +<p> </p> +<hr class="full" /> + <h1>WOMEN AND WAR WORK</h1> + <hr /> + <span class="pagenum"><a name="page2" + id="page2"></a>[pg 2]</span> + + <div class="figcenter" + style="width:30%;"> + <a href="images/plate2.jpg"><img width="100%" + src="images/plate2.jpg" + alt="A FEW SHELLS" /></a>A FEW SHELLS + </div> + <hr /> + <span class="pagenum"><a name="page3" + id="page3"></a>[pg 3]</span> + + <h2>Women and War Work</h2> + + <h2>HELEN FRASER</h2> + +<p> </p> +<div class="poem"> + <div class="stanza"> + <p><i>No easy hopes or lies</i></p> + + <p><i>Shall lead us to our goal,</i></p> + + <p><i>But iron sacrifice</i></p> + + <p><i>Of Body, Will, and Soul.</i></p> + + <p><i>There is but one task for all—</i></p> + + <p><i>For each one life to give.</i></p> + + <p><i>Who stands if Freedom fall?</i></p> + + <p><i>Who dies if England live?</i></p> + </div> + </div> + + <p class="author"><i>Rudyard Kipling in "For All We Have and Are."</i></p> + + <div class="figcenter" + style="width:25%;"> + <a href="images/3.png"><img width="100%" + src="images/3.png" + alt="" /></a> + </div> + + <center> + 1918 + </center> + + <h6>G. Arnold Shaw<br /> + New York</h6> +<p> </p> + <hr /> + <span class="pagenum"><a name="page5" + id="page5"></a>[pg 5]</span> + + <center> + DEDICATED + </center> + + <center> + TO + </center> + + <center> + MOTHER, + </center> + + <center> + ANNE, + </center> + + <center> + AND THE BOYS. + </center> + <hr /> + <span class="pagenum"><a name="page7" + id="page7"></a>[pg 7]</span> + + <h3>CONTENTS</h3> + + <p>Chapter Page</p> + + <p>1. THE SPIRIT OF WOMEN <a href="#page19">19</a></p> + + <p>2. ORGANIZATION AND ITS PITFALLS + <a href="#page35">35</a></p> + + <p>3. HOSPITALS—RED CROSS—V.A.D. + <a href="#page53">53</a></p> + + <p>4. BRINGING BLIGHTY TO THE SOLDIERS—HUTS, COMFORTS, + ETC. <a href="#page73">73</a></p> + + <p>5. WOMAN-POWER FOR MAN-POWER <a href="#page91">91</a></p> + + <p>6. WOMEN AND MUNITIONS <a href="#page109">109</a></p> + + <p>7. THE PROTECTION OF WOMEN IN INDUSTRY + <a href="#page131">131</a></p> + + <p>8. "THE WOMEN'S LAND ARMY" <a href="#page155">155</a></p> + + <p>9. WAR SAVINGS—THE MONEY BEHIND THE GUNS + <a href="#page171">171</a></p> + + <p>10. FOOD PRODUCTION AND CONSERVATION + <a href="#page195">195</a></p> + + <p>11. THE W.A.A.Cs <a href="#page215">215</a></p> + + <p>12. WAR AND MORALS <a href="#page235">235</a></p> + + <p>13. WHAT THE WAR HAS DONE FOR WOMEN + <a href="#page259">259</a></p> + + <p>14. RECONSTRUCTION <a href="#page287">287</a></p> + <hr /> + <span class="pagenum"><a name="page9" + id="page9"></a>[pg 9]</span> + + <h3>ILLUSTRATIONS</h3> + + <p>A FEW SHELLS <a href="#page2">Frontispiece</a></p> + + <p>MISS EDITH CAVELL <a href="#page22">22</a></p> + + <p>DR. ELSIE INGLIS <a href="#page22">22</a></p> + + <p>FIRST AMBULANCE ON DUTY IN THE FIRST ZEPPELIN RAID + <a href="#page56">56</a></p> + + <p>"SOMEWHERE IN FRANCE" <a href="#page64">64</a></p> + + <p>CLEANING A LOCOMOTIVE <a href="#page94">94</a></p> + + <p>WOMEN AS CARRIAGE CLEANERS <a href="#page94">94</a></p> + + <p>WINDOW CLEANERS <a href="#page102">102</a></p> + + <p>STEAM ROLLER DRIVER <a href="#page102">102</a></p> + + <p>TRAINING WOMEN AS AEROPLANE BUILDERS + <a href="#page112">112</a></p> + + <p>RIVETTING ON BOILERS <a href="#page116">116</a></p> + + <p>FACING BOILER BLUE FLANGES <a href="#page116">116</a></p> + + <p>ROUGH TURNING JACKET FORGING OF 6-POUNDER HOTCHKISS GUN + <a href="#page124">124</a></p> + + <p>HOW TO DRESS FOR MUNITION MAKING + <a href="#page136">136</a></p> + + <p>BACK TO THE LAND <a href="#page162">162</a></p> + + <p>WOMEN TACKLE A STRONG MAN'S PROBLEM + <a href="#page162">162</a></p> + + <p>SIX REASONS WHY YOU SHOULD BUY WAR SAVINGS CERTIFICATES + <a href="#page175">175</a></p> + + <p>"FOR YOUR CHILDREN" <a href="#page184">184</a></p> + + <p>BOOK MARKS ISSUED BY THE N.W.S.C. + <a href="#page192">192</a></p> + + <p>W.A.A.Cs ON THE MARCH <a href="#page216">216</a></p> + + <p>WOMEN OF THE RESERVE AMBULANCE + <a href="#page216">216</a></p> + + <p>POLICE WOMEN <a href="#page246">246</a></p> + <hr /> + <span class="pagenum"><a name="page11" + id="page11"></a>[pg 11]</span> + + <h3>FOREWORD</h3> + + <p>"Our War Loan from England"—That is the heading under + which were grouped the nine lectures given by Miss Helen Fraser + at Vassar College. England has borrowed a billion or so of + dollars from us, but the obligation is not all her way. The + moral strength of our cause is immeasurably increased by her + alliance, and the spectacle of a great democracy organizing + itself for complete unity in a world crisis is worth an + incalculable amount to us. Such a vision Miss Fraser has + brought to her wider public among the women of America in this + notable book. Of her personal influence let me quote again from + the Vassar students' newspaper:</p> + + <p>"Miss Fraser, here's to you! We don't need to say that we + liked Miss Fraser and everything she had to tell us. The way we + followed her around, and packed every room in which she spoke, + out to the doors and sometimes up to the ceiling, is proof + enough of that. And even the + <span class="pagenum"><a name="page12" + id="page12"></a>[pg 12]</span> fact that it was Sunday could + not check our outburst of song in the Soap Palace as Miss + Fraser departed. Her gracious speech of appreciation left + with us the question not phrased by her before, but + certainly in the minds of every one of us who had been + hearing her: 'What are <i>we</i> going to do?'"</p> + + <p>An unsolicited testimonial, this, of the most genuine kind. + The College students of today are not easily coaxed into + lecture rooms outside of their own classes.</p> + + <p>I believe that Miss Fraser's book will be read with the same + eager attention that followed her first speeches in this + country as she began her work of educating American women to a + sense of what the mobilization of the entire citizen army of a + democracy must mean.</p> + + <p>Nor will her influence cease there. Miss Fraser's book is a + piece of history; and history is action. The wonderful work of + the women of England is already emulated by the splendid + efforts along many lines of the women in our country. The new + lessons of co-operation and of + <span class="pagenum"><a name="page13" + id="page13"></a>[pg 13]</span> selfless devotion, learned + from this book will, I confidently predict, within a few + months, be translated into action by the Women's War Service + Committees in every state of our land.</p> + + <p>And the greatest lesson of all is that women and men must + work together in this new world. I count it an + honour—being a man—to be asked to introduce Miss + Fraser in this way to the American public. For my part I would + have no separate women's division, except such as concerns the + tasks exclusively for women. I would have women side by side + with men in every division of labour, working out the task with + equal fidelity, equal authority, and equal rewards. One of the + results of this amazing age is going to be the new + comprehension, understanding, and sympathy of the one sex for + the other.</p> + + <p class="author">H.N. MacCRACKEN.</p> + + <div class="poem"> + <div class="stanza"> + <p>Vassar College,</p> + + <p>Poughkeepsie, New York.</p> + + <p>January 11, 1918.</p> + </div> + </div> + <hr /> + <span class="pagenum"><a name="page15" + id="page15"></a>[pg 15]</span> + + <p>The women of all the allies are one in this great struggle. + Our hopes and our fears, our anxieties and our prayers, our + visions and our desolations, are the same.</p> + + <p>Our work is the same task of supporting and sustaining the + energies of our men in arms and of our nations at home. All the + allied women know more of each other than they ever did before, + and this is all to the good.</p> + + <p>The task of women in this struggle and in the reconstruction + to come after, are great tasks, and the world needs in every + country not only the wisdom and knowledge of its own women but + the strength in them that comes from being one of a great + world-wide group and conscious of the unity of all women.</p> + + <p>Anything that can help to that unity and understanding seems + to me of great value, and this record is written for American + women in the hope it may be of some small service.</p> + + <p class="author">H.F.</p> + + <blockquote> + <p>December 25, 1917.</p> + </blockquote> + <hr /> + <span class="pagenum"><a name="page17" + id="page17"></a>[pg 17]</span> + + <h3>THE SPIRIT OF WOMEN</h3> + + <blockquote> + <p>"I have no fear nor shrinking. I have seen death so + often that it is not strange or fearful to me.... I thank + God for this ten weeks' quiet before the end. Life has + always been hurried and full of difficulty. This time of + rest has been a great mercy. They have all been very kind + to me here. But this I would say, standing as I do in view + of God and eternity, I realise that patriotism is not + enough. I must have no hatred or bitterness towards + anyone."</p> + </blockquote> + + <p class="author">—EDITH CAVELL's last message.</p> + <hr /> + <span class="pagenum"><a name="page19" + id="page19"></a>[pg 19]</span> + + <h3>CHAPTER I</h3> + + <h2>THE SPIRIT OF WOMEN</h2> + + <h4>TO WOMEN</h4> + + <div class="poem"> + <div class="stanza"> + <p>Your hearts are lifted up, your hearts</p> + + <p class="i2">That have foreknown the utter price,</p> + + <p>Your hearts burn upward like a flame</p> + + <p class="i2">Of splendour and of sacrifice.</p> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <p>For you too, to battle go,</p> + + <p class="i2">Not with the marching drums and + cheers,</p> + + <p>But in the watch of solitude</p> + + <p class="i2">And through the boundless night of + fears.</p> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <p>And not a shot comes blind with death,</p> + + <p class="i2">And not a stab of steel is pressed</p> + + <p>Home, but invisibly it tore,</p> + + <p class="i2">And entered first a woman's breast.</p> + </div> + </div> + + <p class="author">From LAWRENCE BINYON's "For the Fallen."</p> + + <p>The spirit of women in this greatest of world struggles + cannot, in its essence, be differentiated from the spirit of + men. They are one. The women of our countries in the mass feel + about the issues of this struggle just as the men do; know, as + they do, why we fight, and like them, are going on to the end. + The declarations of our Government as to conditions for peace + are ours, too, and when we vote, we shall show the spirit of + women is clearly and <span class="pagenum"><a name="page20" + id="page20"></a>[pg 20]</span> definitely on the side of + freedom, justice and democracy.</p> + + <p>Our actions speak louder than any words can ever do, and the + record of our women's sacrifices and work stand as great silent + witnesses to our spirit. There is nothing we have been asked to + do that we have not done and we have initiated great pieces of + work ourselves. The hardest time was in the beginning when we + waited for our tasks, feeling as if we beat stone walls, + reading our casualty lists, receiving our wounded, caring for + the refugees, doing everything we could for the sailor and + soldier and his dependants, helping the women out of work, but + feeling there was so much more to do behind the men—so + very much more—for which we had to wait. We did all the + other things faithfully and, so far as we could, prepared + ourselves and when the tasks came, we volunteered in tens of + thousands, every kind of woman, young, old, middle-aged, rich + and poor, trained and untrained, and today we have 1,250,000 + women in industry directly replacing men, 1,000,000 in + munitions, 83,000 additional + <span class="pagenum"><a name="page21" + id="page21"></a>[pg 21]</span> women in Government + Departments, 258,300 whole and part-time women workers on + the land. We are recruiting women for the Women's Army + Auxiliary Corps at the rate of 10,000 a month and we have + initiated a Women's Royal Naval Service. We have had the + help of about 60,000 V.A.D.'s (Voluntary Aid Detachment of + Red Cross) in Hospitals in England and France, and on our + other fronts, in addition to our thousands of trained + nurses.</p> + + <p>The women in our homes carry on—no easy task in these + days of shortages in food and coal and all the other + difficulties, saving, conserving, working, caring for the + children, with so many babies whose fathers have never seen + them, though they are one to two years old, and so many babies + who will never see their fathers.</p> + + <p>Some of our women have died on active service, doctors, + nurses and orderlies. Our most recent and greatest loss is in + the death of Dr. Elsie Inglis, the initiator of the Scottish + Women's Hospitals, who died on November 26th, three days after + she had safely brought back her Unit + <span class="pagenum"><a name="page22" + id="page22"></a>[pg 22]</span> from South Russia, which had + been nursing the Serbians attached to the Russian army.</p> + + <p>One who was with her at the end writes, "It was a great + triumphant going forth." There was no hesitation, no fear. As + soon as she knew she was going, that the call had come, with + her wonted decision of character, she just readjusted her whole + outlook. "For a long time I <i>meant</i> to live," she said, + "but now I know I am going. It is so nice to think of beginning + a new job over there! But I would have liked to have finished + one or two jobs here first!"</p> + + <p>She told us the story of the breaking of their moorings as + they lay in the river in a great storm of wind and of how that + breaking had saved them from colliding with another ship. "I + asked," she said, "what had happened." Someone said "Our + moorings broke." I said, "No, a hand cut them!" Then, after a + moment's silence, with an expression in face and voice which it + is utterly impossible to convey, she added, "That same Hand is + cutting my moorings now, and I am going forth!" The picture + rose before you of an unfettered ship + <span class="pagenum"><a name="page23" + id="page23"></a>[pg 23]</span> going out to the wide sea and + of the great untrammelled, unhindered soul moving + majestically onwards.</p> + + <div class="figright" + style="width:25%;"> + <a href="images/plate23-1.jpg"><img width="100%" + src="images/plate23-1.jpg" + alt="MISS EDITH CAVELL" /></a>MISS EDITH CAVELL + </div> + + <div class="figright" + style="width:25%;"> + <a href="images/plate23-2.jpg"><img width="100%" + src="images/plate23-2.jpg" + alt="DR. ELSIE INGLIS" /></a>DR. ELSIE INGLIS + </div> + + <p>There was no fear, no death! How could there be. She never + thought of her own work—she knew unity. "You did + magnificently," was said to her within an hour of her going. + With all her wonted assurance and with a touch of pride she + answered, "My Unit did magnificently."</p> + + <p>Her loss is irreparable to us, but there is no room for + sorrow. She leaves us triumph, victory, and peace.</p> + + <p>Edith Cavell's name is another that shines upon our roll of + honour—the same serene great spirit—no thought of + self, but only a great love and desire to serve—and a + great fearlessness. Her message, before she went out alone at + dawn to her death, which added another stain to the enemy's + pages dark with blood, was the message of one who saw the + eternal verities, the things worth living and dying + for.</p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page24" + id="page24"></a>[pg 24]</span> + + <p>Our men's Roll of Honor is a heavy Roll. We have lost in + killed and permanently out of the army, a million men and over + 75 per cent of our casualties are our own Island losses. Our + women in every village and in every city street have lost + husbands, fathers, brothers, lovers and friends. From every + rank of life our men have died, the agricultural labourer, the + city clerk, the railway man, the miner, the engineer, the + business man, the poet, the journalist, the author, the artist, + the scientist, the heirs of great names, many of the most + brilliant of our young men. We comb out our mines and + shipyards, and factories, ceaselessly for more men. Our boys at + eighteen go into the army. From eighteen to forty-one every man + is liable for service. Our Universities have only a handful of + men in them and these are the disabled, the unfit, and men from + other countries. Oxford and Cambridge Colleges are full of + Officers' Training Corps men. The Examination Schools and the + Town Hall at Oxford are Hospitals, and Oxford and Cambridge + streets are full of the blue-clad wounded, as are so many + <span class="pagenum"><a name="page25" + id="page25"></a>[pg 25]</span> of our cities. We are a + nation at war, and at war for over three years and + everywhere and in everything we are changed.</p> + + <p>In these years we women have lived always with the shadow of + the war over us—it never leaves us, night or day. We do + not live completely where we are in these days. A bit of us is + always with our men on our many fields of war. We live partly + in France and Flanders, in Italy, in the Balkans, in Egypt and + Palestine and Mesopotamia, in Africa, with the lonely white + crosses in Gallipoli, with our men who guard us sleeping and + waking, going down to the sea in ships and under the sea, + fighting death in submarines and mines, and with those who in + the air are the eyes and the winged cavalry of our forces.</p> + + <p>We mourn our dead, not sadly and hopelessly, though life for + many of us is emptier forever, and for many so much harder, and + we wear very little mourning. We mourn silently, and with a + sure faith that our men's supreme sacrifice is not in vain. + "Greater love hath no man than this, + <span class="pagenum"><a name="page26" + id="page26"></a>[pg 26]</span> that he lay down his life for + his friend." The little white crosses of our graves + symbolize the faith for which they die.</p> + + <p>The message of our soldier poets who have been created by + this war and have written immortal verse, and many of whom have + died, is the message of men who have seen through the veils of + time into eternity, who are free of life and death, whom + nothing can hurt, "if it be not the Destined Will."</p> + + <p>The veils of time grow thin in these days to those of us who + take Death into our reckoning all the time. We think of our men + gone on ahead as eternally young.</p> + + <div class="poem"> + <div class="stanza"> + <p>"Solemn the drums thrill; Death august and royal</p> + + <p class="i2">Sings sorrow up into immortal + spheres.</p> + + <p>There is music in the midst of desolation</p> + + <p class="i2">And a glory that shines before our + tears.</p> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <hr class="short" /> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <p>"They shall not grow old, as we that are left grow + old</p> + + <p class="i2">Age shall not weary them, nor the years + condemn.</p> + + <p>At the going down of the Sun and in the morning</p> + + <p class="i2">We will remember them."</p> + </div> + </div> + + <p>We know, too, though we do not often define it, that the + forces we women fight in the enemy are + <span class="pagenum"><a name="page27" + id="page27"></a>[pg 27]</span> the forces that have left + women out in world affairs.</p> + + <p>Germany is the Fatherland, never, it is significant, the + Motherland as our little Islands are, and its mad dream of + militarism and <i>Weltmacht</i> is the dream of men who deny + any constructive part to women in the great affairs of life. + The hopes of all the democracies are bound up in this struggle + and its issue, and there is no real place in the world for the + true service and genius and work of women, any more than for + that of the mass of men, save in democracy. We mean so much in + these days by democracy. It seems to be indefinable in its + larger meanings. It is not a system of government, but, on the + other hand, no country can be called democratic that has not + established political freedom, and no country is truly + democratic in which such freedom is only in name, and its women + are not included or a group rule or the demagogue and the worst + kind of politician hold sway.</p> + + <p>Democracy is not here till all serve and all are given + opportunities so that they have something + <span class="pagenum"><a name="page28" + id="page28"></a>[pg 28]</span> of value to give to their + country and to the world. Democracy is the ever changing, + ever developing, ever creative spirit of man expressing + itself in his institutions and systems of government and + relationships.</p> + + <p>Its quarrel with our enemies, who would impose on the mass + of men cast-iron systems, and would set up state idols to be + worshipped as higher than the Conscience and spirit of man, is + so profound and goes so deeply into knowledge and feelings that + are too big for words, that the soldier who never tries to + express it but goes out and drills and works and disciplines + himself that he may present his body as a living shield for the + faith that is within him, and the woman who works with him and + behind him, healing and giving, silently, are perhaps wisest of + all.</p> + + <p>It is no time for words only, though right words are mighty + powers, but for living faith in deeds and the spirit of the + women of all our allied countries is swift to answer the + challenge—by their works shall ye know + them.</p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page29" + id="page29"></a>[pg 29]</span> + + <p>The spirit of our women shows, like that of the French women + who tend their farms, keep their shops, work ceaselessly + everywhere, most clearly and wonderfully in their work. In our + hundreds of hospitals night and day, they care for the wounded + and the sick and the dying, bringing consolation, love, skill, + heroism, patience and all fine things as their gift. From + myriads of homes they pour forth to their daily toil, carrying + on the work of the country, educating the children, taking the + place of their men on the railways, the factory, the workshop, + the banks and offices. In the munition works, in the shipyards, + in the engineering shops, in the aeroplane sheds, they work in + tens of thousands—risking life and health in some cases, + but thinking little of it, compared with what their men are + doing, knee-deep in snow and mud and water in the trenches. "Is + the work heavy?" you ask. "Not so heavy as the soldiers'." "Are + the hours long?" "Six days and nights in the trenches are + longer." "We are going to win and you are going to help + us"—and the munition girl and the land girl and the + <span class="pagenum"><a name="page30" + id="page30"></a>[pg 30]</span> workers answer not only with + cheers and words but answer with shells and ships and + aeroplanes and submarines and food produced and conserved, + and in industrial tasks done by men and women together.</p> + + <p>The enemy airships and aeroplanes bomb our cities but our + girls "carry on"—no telephone girl has left her + post—there have been no panics in our workshops.</p> + + <p>And the spirit of the Waac—the khaki girl—is the + spirit of her brother.</p> + + <p>On one occasion in France in an air raid, enemy bombs came + very near some girl signallers. They behaved splendidly and + someone suggested it should be mentioned in the Orders of the + Day. "No," said the Commanding Officer, "we don't mention + soldiers in orders for doing their duty,"—and that + tribute to their attitude is deserved and the right one.</p> + + <p>And, like our men, we carry on cheerfully, knowing there is + only one possible end, victory. We fight for the sanctity of + the given word, for <span class="pagenum"><a name="page31" + id="page31"></a>[pg 31]</span> honour, for the rights of + individuals and nations, for the ideals that have preserved + humanity from barbarism, for the right of service, for the + salvation of common humanity.</p> + + <p>More, we women work with a feeling in our hearts that we, + who bear and cherish life, and to whom its destruction is most + terrible, have a great work to do and a great part to play in + the settlement of the problem of war in the future.</p> + + <p>The transmutation of the struggles of mankind from the + physical to the spiritual, the solution of national and + international problems, the solution of all the riddles of life + that demand an answer or man's conquest, cannot be done by man + alone. It is our task also and to the great work of building up + a new world after we emerge from this crucible of fire in which + the souls of the nations are being tested, the spirit of women + has much to bring.</p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page33" + id="page33"></a>[pg 33]</span> + + <h3>CHAPTER II</h3> + + <h2>ORGANIZATION AND ITS PITFALLS</h2> + + <div class="poem"> + <div class="stanza"> + <p>"The more they gazed, the more their wonder grew</p> + + <p>That one small head could carry all she knew."</p> + </div> + </div><span class="pagenum"><a name="page35" + id="page35"></a>[pg 35]</span> + + <p>There are people who declare that the winning of this war + depends on organization alone. That is palpably untrue. Good + organization can do much. The greatest thing in all + organizations is the living flame that makes grouping + real—the selfless spirit of service that the fighting man + possesses and that is beyond all words of praise.</p> + + <p>Talk to a soldier or a sailor, realize how he thinks and + feels about his ship, his battalion, his aircorps. He is + subordinated—selfless—disciplined. The secret of + the good soldiers' achievements and his greatness is selfless + service and in our national organizations behind him that same + spirit is the one great thing that counts.</p> + + <p>If you have that as a foundation among your workers, + organization is easy.</p> + + <p>We found, at the beginning of the war, a great tendency + among women to rush into direct war + <span class="pagenum"><a name="page36" + id="page36"></a>[pg 36]</span> work. Masses of women wanted + to leave work they knew everything about to go and do work + they knew nothing about. One thing we have realized, that + the trained and educated woman is invaluable, that the best + service you can render your country is to do the work you + know best and are trained for, if it is, as it frequently + is, important civic work. Another point, no younger woman + should stop her education or training—it is the + greatest mistake possible. The war is not over and even when + it is, the great task of reconstruction lies ahead and we + want every trained woman we can get for that. Our women are + in Universities and Colleges in greater numbers than ever, + and more opportunities for education, in Medicine in + particular have been opened to them.</p> + + <p>The trained woman makes the best worker in practically every + department and is particularly useful in organizing. A scheme + that is only indifferently good but, so far as it goes, is on + right lines, well organized and directed, will be more valuable + and get far better results than a perfect + <span class="pagenum"><a name="page37" + id="page37"></a>[pg 37]</span> scheme badly organized and + run. An organization or a committee that has a woman as + Chairman, President or Secretary, who insists on running + everything and deciding everything for herself, is bound for + disaster.</p> + + <p>I should certainly place the will and ability to delegate + authority high up in the qualifications a good organizer must + possess.</p> + + <p>We cannot afford to have little petty jealousies, social, + local, and individual, on war committees or any other for that + matter, but in this big struggle, they are particularly petty + and unworthy.</p> + + <p>We have all met frequently the kind of person who tells you, + "This village will never work with that village," or "Mrs. This + will never work with Mrs. That. They never do"; and I always + answer, "Isn't it time they learned to, when their boys die in + the trenches together, why shouldn't they work together," and + they always do when it is put to them.</p> + + <p>There is no difficulty in getting women to work together in + our country. We have a link in our + <span class="pagenum"><a name="page38" + id="page38"></a>[pg 38]</span> Roll of Honor that is more + unifying than any words or arguments or appeals can be. Our + women of every rank of life are closely drawn together.</p> + + <p>The appeal to women is to organize for National Service and + to realize that work of national importance is likely not to be + at all important work.</p> + + <p>The women in important places in all our countries will be + few in proportion, but the struggle will be won in the Nation, + as in the Army, by the army of the myriads of faithful workers + faithfully performing tasks of drudgery and quiet + service—and a realization of this is the greatest + need.</p> + + <p>Sticking to the work is of supreme importance. We do not + want people who take up something with great enthusiasm and + drop it in a few months. Nothing is achieved by that.</p> + + <p>The good organizer sees her workers do not "grow weary in + well doing."</p> + + <p>Another important work in organization is to prevent waste + of material, effort and money, by + <span class="pagenum"><a name="page39" + id="page39"></a>[pg 39]</span> co-ordination whenever + possible, though I should say, as a broad principle, + co-ordination should not be carried to the point of merging + together kinds of work that make a different appeal for work + and money and require different treatment and knowledge and + powers. The best results are reached by securing + concentration of appeal and organization on one big issue + and getting the work done by a group directly and keenly + interested in the one big thing and with enthusiasm for it + and knowledge of it.</p> + + <p>In the personnel of committees and their composition our + women have made it a definite policy to secure the appointment + of women to all Government and National Committees on which our + presence would be useful and on which we ought to be + represented and we always prefer committees of men and women + together, unless it be for anything that is distinctly better + served by women's committees.</p> + + <p>There is one pitfall in organization into which women fall + more readily than men in my experience. Our instinct as women + is to want to <span class="pagenum"><a name="page40" + id="page40"></a>[pg 40]</span> make everything perfect. We + instinctively run to detail and to a desire for absolute + accuracy and perfection.</p> + + <p>This is invaluable in many ways, but in organizing on a big + scale may be a serious fault. There must, of course, be method, + order and accuracy, but the great essential to secure in big + things is harmonious working—not to insist on a rigid + sameness but to allow for widely divergent views and attitudes + and ways of doing things so long as the essential rules are + observed. We should not insist too much on identity in the way + of work of different places and districts. In + essentials—unity; in non-essentials, liberty; in all + things, charity—that might well be the wise organizer's + motto.</p> + + <p>The supplementing of governmental organization by national + voluntary organization is a great piece of work and in the + beginning of the war, and still, many of our organizations, + voluntary or semi-official in character, were of great service. + The work of the Soldiers and Sailors Families' Association is + an example. The S. and <span class="pagenum"><a name="page41" + id="page41"></a>[pg 41]</span> S.F.A. had been created in + the South African War and in peace time and war time looked + after the dependants of the soldier and sailor. Its + committees were composed of men and women—and it + administered voluntary funds and later grants from the + National Relief Fund, raised at the outbreak of war.</p> + + <p>When war broke out, all the Reservists were called up and + our men volunteered in tens of thousands. The pay offices of + the army, being small like everything else in our army, could + not cope quickly with the numbers of claims for allowances + pouring in, but the S. and S.F.A. stepped into the breach and + looked after the dependants. It secured vast numbers more of + women in every town and village who visited every dependant and + looked after them. They advanced the allowances which were paid + back to them later—and this started in the first week of + the war. They gave additional grants in certain hard cases for + rent, sickness or in event of deaths in family at home. Every + home was visited and no dependant needed to be in distress + <span class="pagenum"><a name="page42" + id="page42"></a>[pg 42]</span> or want—S. and S.F.A. + offices existed in every town and representatives in every + village and any difficulty or trouble could be brought to + them. The whole of this work is done voluntarily. In some + cases workrooms were started from which sewing and knitting + for soldiers and sailors were given to the dependents and + paid for. It was not only the money and practical help that + was of great service—the S. and S.F.A. visitor to the + soldier's wife and mother brought sympathy and help and + interest.</p> + + <p>Another movement for soldiers and sailors dependents was the + founding of clubs for them in many towns. One hundred and + thirty-five of these clubs are linked up now in the United + Services Clubs League. They are bright, cheery rooms in which + the women can find newspapers, books, music, amusement, and + opportunity to sew or knit comforts, can meet their friends and + talk.</p> + + <p>The Royal Patriotic Fund was another semi-official + organization which was run voluntarily, gave grants at death of + soldier or sailor and <span class="pagenum"><a name="page43" + id="page43"></a>[pg 43]</span> administered pensions. It is + now entirely merged in the Naval and Military War Pensions + Statutory Committee and local committees set up in January, + 1916, which administer all grants, pensions, wound + gratuities, etc., and looks after dependants.</p> + + <p>Women sit on the Statutory Committee and there must be women + members on every County, Borough and City War Pensions + Committee in our country.</p> + + <p>The organization of war charities is now in England + controlled by the War Charities Committee appointed by the + Government in April, 1916. The committee controls not only what + could be strictly termed War Charities, but all war agencies of + any kind for which appeals for funds are made to the public. + These organizations must be registered and approved by the + committee, and their accounts must be open to inspection and + audit. This was a wise and necessary step, not so much because + of actual fraudulent appeals—there has been practically + none of that, but there was a certain amount of overlapping + <span class="pagenum"><a name="page44" + id="page44"></a>[pg 44]</span> and of waste of money, + material and energy, and some very few organizations in + which an undue proportion of funds raised was absorbed in + expenses. Comforts for soldiers and prisoners of war parcels + are also now co-ordinated under two national committees.</p> + + <p>The first work of registering Belgian refugees and of + providing French and Flemish interpreters was done by a + voluntary organization—the London Society for Women's + Suffrage (a branch of N.U.W.S.S.), which has always been + notable for its admirable organization. It provided 150 + interpreters for this work in a few days, and work was carried + on at all the London Centres from early morning till midnight. + When the Government took over the charge of Belgian refugees, + the system of registration used by the London Society was + adopted without change by them and the organizer in charge was + taken over also and put in a very responsible position at the + War Refugees Committee's Headquarters.</p> + + <p>The work of our Government Employment Exchanges (which were + established before the <span class="pagenum"><a name="page45" + id="page45"></a>[pg 45]</span> War by the Board of Trade) + and are now under the Ministry of Labour—has been + supplemented by various Professional Women's Bureaus, by the + compiling of a Professional Women's Register, secured + through Universities, Colleges, Headmistresses' Association, + etc., and by the setting up of the Women's Service Bureau by + the London Society for Women Suffrage (N.U.W.S.S.). Various + women's organizations have established most valuable + clearing houses for voluntary workers in Scotland and + England and Wales. The Women's Service Bureau has dealt with + 40,000 applications for voluntary and paid work—mostly + paid. Its interviewers take the greatest trouble to place + these applicants suitably, and to find out just what they + can do or would be good at doing.</p> + + <p>Our biggest Government arsenal secured their first munition + supervisors through it—and the Government Departments, + big firms, factories, organizations, banks, workshops, + institutions of any kind, send to it for workers.</p> + + <p>It not only finds these posts without charge—it + <span class="pagenum"><a name="page46" + id="page46"></a>[pg 46]</span> is supported entirely by + voluntary contribution—but it has a loan and grant + fund to enable women and girls without money to pay for + training and maintenance.</p> + + <p>Its records and the letters in its flies provide reading + that is as absorbing as any novel, and it was one of the wise + agencies that realized the older woman had a place and could + help as well as the younger ones.</p> + + <p>To find the person and the post and to put them together is + its fascinating and admirably done task.</p> + + <p>The organization done by women in Britain has been notable + and admirable.</p> + + <p>I can only touch on some of it and must leave out much, but + it is worth while noting that there has been very little + overlapping in the work. The total percentage of overlapping + was estimated by the War Charities Committee on their + investigation at 10 per cent and of that only a very small + amount was due to + women.</p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page47" + id="page47"></a>[pg 47]</span> + + <h3>WOMEN HAVE SERVED OR ARE SERVING ON THE FOLLOWING + GOVERNMENT COMMITTEES.</h3> + + <p>Belgian Refugees' Committee. 1914.</p> + + <p>Clerical and Commercial Occupation Committee, do (Scotland.) + 1915.</p> + + <p>Disabled Officers and Men.</p> + + <p>Education After the War. April, 1916.</p> + + <p>Educational Reform. (August, 1916.)</p> + + <p>Food, Committee of Inquiry Into High Cost of—June, + 1916.</p> + + <p>Advisory Committee on Women in Industry. March, 1916.</p> + + <p>Labor Commission to Deal with Industrial Unrest. (Ministry + of Labor.) June, 1917.</p> + + <p>Munitions Central Labor Supply Committee.</p> + + <p>Munitions, Arbitration Tribunals.</p> + + <p>Munitions, Committee on the Supply and Organization of + Women's Service in Canteens, Hostels, Clubs, etc. December, + 1916.</p> + + <p>Naval and Military War Pensions Statutory Committee. + January, 1916.</p> + + <p>Nurses, Supply of—October, + 1916.</p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page48" + id="page48"></a>[pg 48]</span> + + <p>Polish Victims' Relief Fund.</p> + + <p>Prevention and Relief of Distress. 1914.</p> + + <p>Professional Classes Sub-Committee.</p> + + <p>Prisoners of War Help Committee.</p> + + <p>Reconstruction Committee. (To advise the Government on the + many national problems which will arise at the end of the war.) + 1916.</p> + + <p>Shops: Committee of Inquiry, to Consider Conditions of + Retail Trade to Secure the Enlistment of Men. (November, + 1915.)</p> + + <p>Teachers' Salaries. Departmental Committee of Enquiry. June, + 1917.</p> + + <p>War Charities. April, 1916.</p> + + <p>National War Savings Committee. April, + 1916.</p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page49" + id="page49"></a>[pg 49]</span> + + <h3>COMMITTEES EXCLUSIVELY COMPOSED OF WOMEN.</h3> + + <p>Committee, Report on Joint Standing Industrial Councils. + 1917.</p> + + <p>Women's Wages Committee. 1917.</p> + + <p>Central Committee on Women's Employment. 1914.</p> + + <p>Drinking Among Women, Committee of Enquiry. November, + 1915.</p> + + <p>There are also two women on the—</p> + + <p>Executive Committee of National Relief Fund.</p> + + <p>Ministry of Food has two women Co-Directors—</p> + + <div class="poem"> + <div class="stanza"> + <p>Mrs. C.S. Peel</p> + + <p>Mrs. Pember Reeves</p> + </div> + </div><span class="pagenum"><a name="page51" + id="page51"></a>[pg 51]</span> + + <h3>CHAPTER III</h3> + + <h2>HOSPITALS—RED CROSS—V.A.D.</h2> + + <div class="poem"> + <div class="stanza"> + <p>"Come, ye blessed of my Father;</p> + + <p>I was sick and ye visited me."</p> + </div> + </div> + + <p class="author">—MATT., Chap. 25.</p> + + <div class="poem"> + <div class="stanza"> + <p>"A lady with a lamp shall stand</p> + + <p>In the great history of the land,</p> + + <p>A noble type of good</p> + + <p>Heroic womanhood."</p> + </div> + </div> + + <p class="author">—H.W. LONGFELLOW,<br /> + "To Florence + Nightingale."</p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page53" + id="page53"></a>[pg 53]</span> + + <p>When war broke out on August 4, 1914, probably the only + women in our country who knew exactly how they could help, and + would be used in the war, were our nurses in the Navy and Army + nursing services.</p> + + <p>In the Army, Queen Alexandra's Imperial Military Nursing + Service had in it at that time about 280 members, matrons, + sisters and staff nurses, Miss Becher, R.R.C., being + Matron-in-Chief for Military Hospitals. The Q.A.I.M.N.S. had a + large Reserve which was also immediately called out and these + nurses were used at once, six parties being sent to France and + Belgium by August 20th.</p> + + <p>The Second Branch was the Territorial Force Nursing Service, + which was in 1914 eight years old. It was initiated by Miss + Haldane and a draft scheme of an establishment of nurses + willing to serve in general hospitals in the event of + <span class="pagenum"><a name="page54" + id="page54"></a>[pg 54]</span> the Territorial Forces being + mobilized, was submitted at a meeting held in Miss Haldane's + house, Sir Alfred Keogh, Medical Director General, being + present. This scheme was approved and an Advisory Council + appointed at the War Office.</p> + + <p>The Matrons of the largest and most important nurse-training + centres in the Kingdom were appointed as principal matrons + (unpaid) and to them the success of this Force is largely due. + They received the applications of matrons, sisters and nurses + willing to join, looked after their references and submitted + them, after approval by the Local Committee, to the Advisory + Council. To their splendid work was due the ease of the vast + mobilization of nurses when war broke out. There were then + 3,000 nurses on their rolls. On August 5th they were called out + and in ten days 23 Territorial General Hospitals in England, + Wales and Scotland were ready to receive the wounded and the + nurses were also ready.</p> + + <p>Each hospital had 520 beds, but this accommodation was quite + inadequate after a few months + <span class="pagenum"><a name="page55" + id="page55"></a>[pg 55]</span> of war, and the accommodation + of practically every hospital was increased to 1,000 to + 3,000 beds and many Auxiliary Hospitals had to be organized. + By June, 1915, the Territorial Nursing Staff was 4,000 in + number and in Hospitals in France and in Belgium and in + clearing stations, there were over 400 Territorial Nurses as + well as Imperial Nurses.</p> + + <p>The Naval Nurses were about 70 in number with a Reserve, and + their Reserve was called up at once also, and they went to + their various Hospitals. The other two great organizations, the + British Red Cross and the order of St. John of Jerusalem, now + working together through the joint committee set up to + administer the <i>Times</i> Fund for the Red Cross, which has + reached over $30,000,000, had their schemes also. In time of + war they are controlled by the War Office and Admiralty. The + Red Cross had, since 1909, organized Voluntary Aid Detachments + to give voluntary aid to the sick and wounded in the event of + war in home territory. There were 60,000 men and women trained + in transport work, cooking, + <span class="pagenum"><a name="page56" + id="page56"></a>[pg 56]</span> laundry, first aid and home + nursing. St. John's ambulance had the same system of + ambulance workers and V.A.D.'s to call on.</p> + + <p>As the war proceeded it was quite clear that the nursing + staffs, though we had secured 3,000 more trained nurses through + the Red Cross in the first few weeks of the war, would be quite + inadequate, and it was found necessary to use V.A.D.'s and to + open V.A.D. Hospitals, most of them being established in large + private houses lent for the purpose. Within nine months there + were 800 of these at work in every part of England, Scotland + and Wales. The V.A.D.'s suffered a little at first from + confusion with the ladies who insisted on rushing off to France + after taking a ten day's course in first aid. We had suffered a + great deal from that kind of thing in the South African War and + were determined to have no repetition of it, so they were + firmly and decisively removed from France without delay.</p> + + <div class="figright" + style="width:30%;"> + <a href="images/plate58.jpg"><img width="100%" + src="images/plate58.jpg" + alt="FIRST AMBULANCE ON DUTY IN THE FIRST ZEPPELIN RAID ON LONDON" /> + </a>FIRST AMBULANCE ON DUTY IN THE FIRST ZEPPELIN RAID ON + LONDON + </div> + + <p>To get more trained nurses, rules were relaxed and the age + limit raised. Many nurses, retired and married, returned to + work, but very quickly <span class="pagenum"><a name="page57" + id="page57"></a>[pg 57]</span> it was perfectly clear our + trained nurses were inadequate in number for the great work + before us, and in less than a year in most hospitals every + ward had one V.A.D. worker assisting who had been nominated + by her Commandant and County Director, and in March, 1915, + the Hospitals were asked by the Director General of the Army + Medical Service to train V.A.D.'s in large numbers as + probationers, for three or six months, to fit them for work + under trained nurses. Every possible woman, trained or + partially trained, was mobilized and thousands have been + trained during the three years of war, and V.A.D. members + have been drafted to military and Red Cross Hospitals, + abroad and at home, in addition to doing the work of the + V.A.D. Hospitals. A V.A.D. Hospital with a hundred beds will + have two trained nurses, and all the other work is done by + V.A.D.'s. The Commandant-in-Chief now is Lady Ampthill. Dame + Katharine Furse was Commandant-in-Chief until quite + recently, but is now head of the new Women's Royal Navy + Service.</p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page58" + id="page58"></a>[pg 58]</span> + + <p>Many have gone to France and done distinguished work and + there is no body of women in our country who have done more + faithful and useful work than our V.A.D.'s, who nurse, cook and + wash dishes, serve meals, scrub the floors, look after the + linen and do everything for the comfort and welfare of our men, + with a capacity, zeal and endurance beyond praise. About 60,000 + women have helped in this way. Our nurses and V.A.D.'s have + distinguished themselves at home and abroad. They have been in + casualty lists on all our fronts. They have been decorated for + bravery and for heroic work. The full value of all they have + done cannot yet be appraised. They have spent themselves + unceasingly in caring for our men. They have nursed them with + shells falling around. Hospitals have frequently been shelled + and in one case two nurses worked in a theatre, wearing steel + helmets during the bombardment, with patients who were under + anaesthetics and could not be moved. They have waited out + beside men who could not be got in from under shell fire of the + enemy until darkness <span class="pagenum"><a name="page59" + id="page59"></a>[pg 59]</span> fell. Two V.A.D. nurses in + another raid saw to the removal of all their patients to + cellars and, while they themselves were entering the cellars + after everyone was safe, bombs fell upon the building they + had just left and completely demolished it. Some of our + nurses have died of typhus. They have been wounded in + Hospitals and on Hospital Trains, and they have done all + their work as cheerfully and with the same high courage as + our men have. We have had helping us in our nursing numbers + of Canadian nurses, not only for the beautiful Canadian + Hospital at Beechborough Park, but for many other Hospitals + in England and France, and nurses from Australia and New + Zealand.</p> + + <p>We have had American nurses, also, but these will now be + absorbed, as needed, by the American Army in France.</p> + + <p>The records of our Medical women in the war are among the + very best. The belief that nursing was woman's work but that + medicine and surgery were not, was dying before the war, but it + existed, and it was the war that gave it the final + <span class="pagenum"><a name="page60" + id="page60"></a>[pg 60]</span> death blow. Immediately war + broke out Dr. Louisa Garrett Anderson, a daughter of our + pioneer woman doctor, Dr. Elizabeth Garrett Anderson, and + Dr. Flora Murray formed the Women's Hospital Corps, a + complete small unit and offered it to the British + Government. It was refused but accepted by the French + Government, and was established by them at Claridge's Hotel + in Paris, where it did admirable work. Its work aroused the + interest and admiration of the British Royal Army Medical + Corps, and they were asked to form a Hospital at Wimereux, + which afterwards amalgamated with the R.A.M.C. Later Sir + Alfred Keogh established them in Endell Street, London, + where they have a Hospital of over 700 beds. The women + surgeons and doctors and staff are graded for purposes of + pay in the same way as men members of R.A.M.C.</p> + + <p>In July, 1916, the War Office asked for the services of 80 + medical women for work at home and abroad, and later for 50 + more.</p> + + <p>The Women's Service League sent a unit to + <span class="pagenum"><a name="page61" + id="page61"></a>[pg 61]</span> Antwerp which did some + excellent work, though it was there only a very short time. + The members of the unit were among the last to leave the + city, escaping in the last car to cross the bridge before it + was blown up.</p> + + <p>The work of the Scottish Women's Hospitals, organized by the + Scottish Federation of the Nation Union of Women's Suffrage + Societies, and initiated by Dr. Elsie Inglis, of Edinburgh, + would require a volume to themselves, and American women, who + have given so generously and so freely to them, know a great + deal about their work. The first unit went to Royaumont in + France, and established itself at the old Abbaye there. It + stood from the beginning in the very first rank for efficiency. + A leading French expert, Chief of the Pasteur Laboratory in + Paris, speaking of this Hospital, said he had inspected + hundreds of military Hospitals, but not one which commanded his + admiration so completely as this. Another unit was sent to + Troyes and was maintained by the students of Newnham and Girton + Colleges. Dr. Elsie Inglis's greatest work + <span class="pagenum"><a name="page62" + id="page62"></a>[pg 62]</span> began in April, 1915, when + her third unit went to Serbia, where she may he truly said + to have saved the Serbian nation from despair. The typhus + epidemic had at the time of her arrival carried off + one-third of the Serbian Army Medical Corps, and the + epidemic threatened the very existence of the Serbian Army. + She organized four great Hospital Units, initiated every + kind of needful sanitary precaution, looked into every + detail, regardless of her own safety and comfort, hesitating + at no task, however loathsome and terrible. Her constant + message to the Serbian Medical Headquarters Staff was "Tell + me where your need is greatest without respect to + difficulties, and we will do our best to help Serbia and her + brave soldiers."</p> + + <p>Two nurses and one of the doctors died of typhus. Miss + Margaret Neil Fraser, the famous golfer, was one of those who + died there, and many beds were endowed in the Second Unit in + her memory.</p> + + <p>The Third Serbian Unit when on its way out was commandeered + by Lord Methuen at Malta <span class="pagenum"><a name="page63" + id="page63"></a>[pg 63]</span> for service among our own + wounded troops, a service they were glad to render. Later + when the Germans and Austrians overran Serbia, one of the + Units retreated with the Serbian Army, but the one in which + Dr. Inglis was, remained at Kralijevo where she refused to + leave her Serbian wounded, knowing they would die without + her care. She was captured with her staff and, after + difficulties and indignities and discomforts, were released + by the Austrians and returned through Switzerland to + England. On her return she urged the War Office to send her, + and her Unit, to Mesopotamia. Rumors had already reached + England of the terrible state of things there from the + medical point of view, which was fully revealed later by the + Mesopotamian Commission. She was refused permission to go, + though it is perfectly clear their assistance would have + been invaluable and ought to have been used. Once more she + returned to help the Serbians and established Units in the + Balkans and South Russia. The Serbian people have shown + every token of gratitude and of honor + <span class="pagenum"><a name="page64" + id="page64"></a>[pg 64]</span> which it was in their power + to bestow upon her. The people in 1916 put up a fountain in + her honor at Mladenovatz, and the Serbian Crown Prince + conferred on her the highest honor Serbia has to give, the + First Order of the White Eagle. Dr. Inglis died, on November + 26th, three days after bringing her Unit safely home from + South Russia. Memorial services were held in her honor at + St. Margaret's, Westminster, and in St. Giles's Cathedral, + Edinburgh. Those who were there speak of it not as a funeral + but as a triumph. The streets were thronged; all Edinburgh + turned out to do her homage as she went to her last resting + place. The Scottish Command was represented and lent the + gun-carriage on which the coffin was borne and the Union + Jack which covered it.</p> + + <div class="figright" + style="width:30%;"> + <a href="images/plate67-1.jpg"><img width="100%" + src="images/plate67-1.jpg" + alt="'SOMEWHERE IN FRANCE'" /></a>"SOMEWHERE IN + FRANCE" + <a href="images/plate67-2.jpg"><img width="100%" + src="images/plate67-2.jpg" + alt="" /></a> + </div> + + <p>In the Cathedral the Rev. Dr. Wallace Williamson, Dean of + the Order of The Thistle, said: "We are assembled this day with + sad but proud and grateful hearts to remember before God a very + dear and noble lady, our beloved sister, Elsie Inglis, who has + been called to her rest. <span class="pagenum"><a name="page65" + id="page65"></a>[pg 65]</span> We mourn only for ourselves, + not for her. She has died as she lived, in the clear light + of faith and self-forgetfulness, and now her name is linked + forever with the great souls who have led the van of womanly + service for God and man. A wondrous union of strength and + tenderness, of courage and sweetness, she remains for us a + bright and noble memory of high devotion and stainless + honor.... Especially today, in the presence of + representatives of the land for which she died, we think of + her as an immortal link between Serbia and Scotland, and as + a symbol of that high courage which will sustain us, please + God, till that stricken land is once again restored, and + till the tragedy of war is eradicated and crowned with God's + great gifts of peace and of righteousness."</p> + + <p>The National Union of Women's Suffrage Societies also sent + the Millicent Fawcett Unit, named after its honoured President, + to Russia in 1916 to work among the Polish refugees, especially + to do maternity nursing, and work among the + children.</p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page66" + id="page66"></a>[pg 66]</span> + + <p>In February a Maternity Unit started work in Petrograd. With + an excellent staff of women doctors, nurses and orderlies, the + little hospital proved a veritable haven of helpfulness to the + distressed refugee mothers. It soon established so good a + reputation for its thorough and disinterested work that the + help of the workers was asked for by the Moscow Union of + Zemstovos (Town and Rural Councils) for Middle Russia and + Galicia.</p> + + <p>In May the Millicent Fawcett Hospital Units were sent out + and at Kazan on the Volga a badly needed Children's Hospital + for infectious diseases was opened. The only other hospital in + the place was so full that it had two patients in each bed. + They had a fierce fight against diphtheria and scarlet fever, + which in many cases was very bad, and they succeeded in saving + most of the children, who would certainly have died in their + miserable homes.</p> + + <p>In the summer, the Units took over a small hospital at Stara + Chilnoe, a district without a doctor, and they treated not only + refugees, but <span class="pagenum"><a name="page67" + id="page67"></a>[pg 67]</span> the peasants who came in + daily in crowds from the surrounding districts. Other Units + of the same kind were started in remote districts and in + summer a Holiday Home at Suida was run to which the women + and children could come from the Petrograd Maternity + Hospital for a rest. They also took charge of two hospitals, + temporarily without any medical staff, in a remote part of + the Kazan district, where they were objects of the most + intense curiosity.</p> + + <p>The interpreters were kept busy answering questions about + the ages, salaries and husbands of the staff, and the nurses' + wrist watches roused great excitement.</p> + + <p>That their gratitude and kindness was very real, though + their notions of suitability of place and time were primitive, + was shown by the gift of three live hens being dumped, at 4 + a.m., on the bed of a sister sound asleep.</p> + + <p>The final piece of work was the establishing of an + infectious Hospital for peasants and soldiers in Volhynia, + sixty miles behind the firing + <span class="pagenum"><a name="page68" + id="page68"></a>[pg 68]</span> line in Galicia. This was + done at the urgent request of the Zemstovos Union.</p> + + <p>There they had to deal with a great deal of smallpox and in + another case with scabies which they stamped out in one small + village. These Units left Russia before the recent changes, but + their work was valuable and appreciated, and again American + women helped us in raising the necessary funds, having + subscribed $7,500 towards the Units.</p> + + <p>One of the workers, Ruth Holden, of Radcliffe College, + Boston, died in one of the epidemics. We have had American + women, as we have had men, helping us from the beginning of the + war. The American Women's War Relief Fund most generously + offered to fully equip and maintain a surgical hospital of 250 + beds at Oldway House, Paignton, South Devon, at the beginning + of the war, and this offer was gratefully accepted by the War + Office through the Red Cross Society.</p> + + <p>They also gifted six motor ambulances for use at the + front—and these and the hospital have + <span class="pagenum"><a name="page69" + id="page69"></a>[pg 69]</span> been of the very greatest + service to our wounded men.</p> + + <p>Others of our medical women are with mixed Units, such as + The Wounded Allies' Relief Committee. Dr. Dickinson Berry went + out with others in a Unit from the Royal Free Hospital to help + the Serbian Government, and Dr. Alice Clark is in the Friends' + Unit.</p> + + <p>Our medical women have won rich laurels and have established + themselves in their own profession permanently and thoroughly. + Behind the Hospitals, we have the thousands of women who every + day are working at the Hospital Supply Depots of our country. + These are everywhere and nothing is more wonderful than the way + in which our voluntary workers have gone on faithfully working, + conforming to discipline and hours and steady service as + conscientiously as any paid worker.</p> + + <p>The organizing ability displayed by our women in this + amounts to genius. The buying of material, cutting and making + up, parcelling, storing, and packing of gigantic supplies, all + the <span class="pagenum"><a name="page70" + id="page70"></a>[pg 70]</span> secretarial and clerical work + involved has been the work of women and mostly of women of + the leisured classes, many of them without any previous + training. From the organization of the big schemes of supply + down to such work as the collecting of sphagnum moss, + everything that was needed has been done, and done + well.</p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page71" + id="page71"></a>[pg 71]</span> + + <h3>CHAPTER IV</h3> + + <h2>"BRINGING 'BLIGHTY' TO THE SOLDIER"</h2> + + <div class="poem"> + <div class="stanza"> + <p>"It's a long, long way to Tipperary,</p> + + <p>But my heart's right there."</p> + </div> + </div> + + <p class="author"> + "Cheero."</p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page73" + id="page73"></a>[pg 73]</span> + + <p>"Blighty" is Home, the British soldiers in India's + corruption of the Hindustanee, and Blighty is a word we all + know well now.</p> + + <p>The full records of this are not easy to give—so much + has been done. Perhaps the simplest way is to begin with the + soldier at the training camp and follow him through his + soldier's existence. The first work lies in giving him + comforts, and the women of our country still knit a good deal + and in the early days knitted, as you do now to get your + supplies, in trains and tubes and theatres and concerts, and + public meetings. This was happening while many of our working + women were without work and it was felt that this was likely to + compete very seriously with the work of these women. The Queen + realized there was likely to be hardships through this + <span class="pagenum"><a name="page74" + id="page74"></a>[pg 74]</span> and also that there would + probably be a great waste of material if voluntary effort + was not wisely guided. So she called at Buckingham Palace a + committee of women to consider the position and Queen Mary's + Needlework Guild was the outcome of it. The following + official statement, issued on August 21, 1914, intimated the + Queen's wishes and policy.</p> + + <blockquote> + <p>Queen Mary's Needlework Guild has received + representations to the effect that the provision of + garments by voluntary labor may have the consequence of + depriving of their employment workpeople who would have + been engaged for wages in the making of the same garments + for contractors to the Government. A very large part of the + garments collected by the Guild consists, however, of + articles which would not in the ordinary course have been + purchased by the Government. They include additional + comforts for the soldiers and sailors actually serving, and + for the sick and wounded in hospital, clothing for members + of their families who may fall into distress, and clothing + to be distributed by the local committees for the + prevention and relieving of distress among families who may + be suffering from unemployment owing to the war. If these + garments were not made by the voluntary labor of women who + are willing to do their share of work for the country in + the best way open to them, they would not, in the majority + <span class="pagenum"><a name="page75" + id="page75"></a>[pg 75]</span> of cases, be made at all. + The result would be that families in distress would + receive in the winter no help in the form of clothing, + and the soldiers and the sailors and the men in + hospitals would not enjoy the additional comforts that + would be provided. The Guild is informed that flannel + shirts, socks, and cardigan jackets are a Government + issue for soldiers; flannel vest, socks, and jerseys for + sailors; pajama suits, serge gowns for military + hospitals; underclothing, flannel gowns and flannel + waistcoats for naval hospitals. Her Majesty the Queen is + most anxious that work done for the Needlework Guild + should not have a harmful effect on the employment of + men, women, and girls in the trades concerned, and + therefore desires that the workers of the Guild should + devote themselves to the making of garments other than + those which would, in the ordinary course, be bought by + the War Office and Admiralty. All kinds of garments will + be needed for distribution in the winter if there is + exceptional distress.</p> + + <p>The Queen would remind those that are assisting the + Guild that garments which are bought from the shops and are + sent to the Guild are equally acceptable, and their + purchases would have the additional advantage of helping to + secure the continuance of employment of women engaged in + their manufacture. It is, however, not desirable that any + appeal for funds should be made for this purpose which + would conflict with the collection of the Prince of Wales's + Fund.</p> + </blockquote> + + <p>Branches of Queen Mary's Needlework Guild + <span class="pagenum"><a name="page76" + id="page76"></a>[pg 76]</span> were started everywhere and + the Mayoresses of practically every town in the Kingdom + organized their own towns. Gifts came from all over the + world and a book kept at Friary Court, St. James', records + the gifts received from Greater Britain and the neutral + countries.</p> + + <p>The demand for comforts was very great and in ten months the + gross number of articles received was 1,101,105, but this did + not represent anything like all. It was the Queen's wish that + the branches of her Guild should be free to do as they wished + in distribution, send to local regiments, or regiments + quartered in the neighborhood, or use them for local distress. + Great care was taken to see there was no overlapping, and this + is secured fully by Sir Edward Ward's Committee.</p> + + <p>Our men have been well looked after in the way of comforts, + socks and mitts and gloves and jerseys, and mufflers and gloves + for minesweepers and helmets, everything they needed, and the + Regimental Comforts Funds and work still exists as well, all + co-ordinated now.</p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page77" + id="page77"></a>[pg 77]</span> + + <p>The Fleet has also had fresh vegetables supplied to it the + whole time by a voluntary agency.</p> + + <p>At the Training Camps, in France, in every field of war, we + have the Y.M.C.A., and there is no soldier in these days and no + civilian who does not know the Red Triangle. There are over + 1,000 huts in Britain and over 150 in France. It is the sign + that means something to eat and something warm to drink, + somewhere cozy and warm out of the cold and chill and damp of + winter camp and trench, somewhere to write a letter, somewhere + to read and talk, somewhere that brings all of "Blighty" that + can come to the field of war. In our Y.M.C.A. huts, 30,000 + women work. In the camp towns we have also the Guest Houses, + run by voluntary organizations of women. In the Town Halls we + have teas and music and in our houses we entertain overseas + troops as our guests.</p> + + <p>Our men move in thousands to and from the front, going and + on leave, moving from one camp to another, and Victoria + Station, Charing Cross and Waterloo are names written deep in + our <span class="pagenum"><a name="page78" + id="page78"></a>[pg 78]</span> hearts these days. We have + free buffets for our fighting men at all of these, and at + all our London stations and ports, and these are open night + and day. All the money needed is found by voluntary + subscriptions.</p> + + <p>Our men come in on the leave train straight from the + trenches, loaded up with equipment, with their rifles + canvas-covered to keep them dry and clean, with Flanders mud + caked upon them to the waist, very tired, with that look they + all bring home from the trenches in their eyes, but in Blighty + and trying to forget how soon they have to go back. The buffets + are there for them, and those who have no one to meet them in + London and who have to travel north or west or east to go home, + are met by men and women who direct them where to go by day and + motor them across London to their station at night. The leave + trains that get in on Sunday morning brings Scottish soldiers + that cannot leave till evening, and St. Columba's, Church of + Scotland, has stepped into the breach. The women meet the + train, carry off the soldier for breakfast in the Hall, + <span class="pagenum"><a name="page79" + id="page79"></a>[pg 79]</span> which is ready, and they + entertain them all day. Thousands have been entertained in + this way, and "It's just home," said one Gordon + Highlander.</p> + + <p>The soldier is in France and there he finds we have sent him + Blighty, too—canteens and Y.M.C.A. Huts. Our books and + our magazines, everything we can think of and send, goes to + every field of war.</p> + + <p>He is followed where he can be by amusement and + entertainment. Concert parties are arranged by our actors and + actresses, and they go out and sing and act and amuse our men + behind the lines. Lena Ashwell has organized Concert parties + and done a great work in this way.</p> + + <p>Such work as Miss McNaughton's, recorded in her "Diary of + the War," and for which she was decorated before her death, + largely caused by overwork, as Lady Dorothie Fielding's + ambulance work, for which she also was decorated, and the work + of the "Women of Pervyse" stand out, even among the wonderful + things done by individual women in this war.</p> + + <p>The "Women of Pervyse," Mrs. Knocker, now + <span class="pagenum"><a name="page80" + id="page80"></a>[pg 80]</span> the Baronnes de T'Serclas, + and Miss Mairi Chisholm, went out with the Field Ambulance + Committee, and were quartered with others at Ghent before + and during and after the siege of Antwerp. When the + ambulance trains started to come in from Antwerp they worked + day and night moving the wounded from the station to the + hospitals—they worked for hours under fire moving + wounded, unperturbed and unshaken.</p> + + <p>After the battle of Dixmude and the armies had settled on + the Neuport-Ypres line, Mrs. Knocker started the Pervyse Poste + de Secours Anglis, a dressing station so close to the firing + line that the wounded could literally be lifted to it from the + trenches.</p> + + <p>There they have worked and cared for the men in conditions + almost incredible. In February, 1915, they were decorated by + King Albert, and since March they have been permanently + attached to the Third Division of the Belgian Army.</p> + + <p>In June, 1915, they were mentioned in dispatches for saving + life under heavy fire. They + <span class="pagenum"><a name="page81" + id="page81"></a>[pg 81]</span> have saved hundreds of lives + by being where they can render aid so swiftly, and the + military authorities do not move them, not only because they + wish to pay tribute to their valor but because they are so + valuable.</p> + + <p>Most of all, "Blighty" goes to the soldier in his letters + and there is nothing so dear to the soldier as his letters, and + nothing is worse than to have "no mail." The woman who does not + write, and the woman who writes the wrong things, are equally + poor things. The woman who wants to help her man sends him + bright cheerful letters, not letters about difficulties he + can't help, and that will only worry him, but letters with all + the news he would like to have, and the messages that count for + so much. Every woman who writes to a soldier has in that an + influence and a power worthy of all her best. Not only our + letters but our thoughts and our prayers are a wall of strength + to, and behind our men.</p> + + <p>In this war some have talked of spiritual manifestations + that saved disaster in our great retreat. In that people may + believe or disbelieve, <span class="pagenum"><a name="page82" + id="page82"></a>[pg 82]</span> but no person of intelligence + fails to realize the power of thought, and love, and hope, + and the spirit of women can be a great power to their men in + arms. There are so many ways of giving and sending that none + of us need to fail.</p> + + <p>Then he is in it—in the trenches—over the + top—and he may be safe or he may be wounded—a + "Blighty one," as our men say, and we get him home to nurse and + care for—or he may make the supreme sacrifice and only + the message goes home.</p> + + <p>To everyone it must go with something of the consolation of + the poem written by Rifleman S. Donald Cox of the London Rifle + Brigade.</p> + + <div class="poem"> + <div class="stanza"> + <p>"To My Mother—1916</p> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <p>"If I should fall, grieve not that one so weak</p> + + <p class="i4">And poor as I</p> + + <p class="i4">Should die.</p> + + <p>Nay, though thy heart should break,</p> + + <p>Think only this: that when at dusk they speak</p> + + <p class="i4">Of sons and brothers of another one,</p> + + <p class="i4">Then thou canst say, 'I, too, had a + son,</p> + + <p>He died for England's sake,'"</p> + </div> + </div><span class="pagenum"><a name="page83" + id="page83"></a>[pg 83]</span> + + <p>He may be a prisoner and then we follow him again. There are + over 40,000 of our men prisoners and we have over 200,000 of + the enemy. The treatment and conditions of our prisoners in + Germany were sometimes terrible—the horrors of Wittenberg + we can never forget, and we are deeply indebted to the American + Red Cross, for all it did before America's entry into the war, + for our prisoners.</p> + + <p>From the beginning of the war we have had to feed our + prisoners, and for the first two years parcels of food went + from mothers, sisters and relatives of the men. Regimental + Funds were raised and parcels sent through these. Girls' Clubs + and the League of Honour and Churches and groups of many kinds + sent also. The Savoy Association had a large fund and did a + great work.</p> + + <p>Parcels, which must weigh under eleven pounds, go free to + prisoners of war and there are + <span class="pagenum"><a name="page84" + id="page84"></a>[pg 84]</span> some regulations about what + may be sent. Now the whole work is regulated by the + Prisoners of War Help Committee—an official committee, + and parcels are sent out under their supervision to every + man in captivity.</p> + + <p>Books, games and clothing also go out from us. In most of + the Camps and at Ruhleben, where our civilians are interned, + studies are carried on, and classes of instruction, and + technical and educative books are much needed and demanded. + Schools and colleges have sent out large supplies of these.</p> + + <p>We have also raised funds for the Belgian Prisoners of War + in Germany.</p> + + <p>We have exchanged prisoners with Germany and have secured + the release and internment in Switzerland of some hundreds of + our worst wounded, and permanently disabled, and tubercular and + consumptive men. In Switzerland, among the beautiful mountains, + they are finding happiness and health again and many of them + are working at new trades and training.</p> + + <p>We sent out their wives to see them and some + <span class="pagenum"><a name="page85" + id="page85"></a>[pg 85]</span> girls went to marry their + released men. Some of our prisoners have escaped from + Germany and reached us safely after many risks and + adventures.</p> + + <p>"Blighty" goes out to our men also in our Chaplains, the + "Padres" of our forces, and many times soldiers have talked to + me of their splendid "Padre" in Gallipoli, or France or Egypt. + They have died with the men, bringing water and help and trying + to bring in the wounded. They have been decorated with the + V.C., our highest honor, the simple bronze cross given "For + Valour." They write home to mothers and wives and relatives of + the men who fall, and send last messages and words of + consolation.</p> + + <p>Their task is a great one, for to men who face death all the + time, and see their dearest friends killed beside them, things + eternal are living realities and there are questions for which + they want answers. There is so much the Padre has to give and + his messages are listened to in a new way and words are winged + and living where these men + are.</p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page86" + id="page86"></a>[pg 86]</span> + + <p>We have so many of our men from overseas among us who are + far from their own homes, and in London we have Clubs for the + Canadians, the Australians, the New Zealanders, for the two + together, immortally to be known as the "Anzacs," and for the + South Africans, where they can all find a bit of home. We have + also just opened American Huts and the beautiful officers' Club + at Lord Leconfield's house, lent for the purpose.</p> + + <p>For the permanently disabled soldier we are doing a great + deal. St. Dunstan's, the wonderful training school for the + blind, has been the very special work of Sir Arthur Pearson, + who is himself blind, and Lady Pearson.</p> + + <p>The Lord Roberts Workshops for the disabled are doing + splendid work in training and bringing hope to seriously + crippled men.</p> + + <p>The British Women's Hospital for which our women have raised + $500,000, is on the site of the old Star and Garter Hotel at + Richmond, and is to be for permanently disabled + men.</p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page87" + id="page87"></a>[pg 87]</span> + + <p>There, overlooking our beautiful river, men who have been + broken in the wars for us, may find a permanent home in this + monument of our women's love and + gratitude.</p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page89" + id="page89"></a>[pg 89]</span> + + <h3>CHAPTER V</h3> + + <h2>WOMAN-POWER FOR MAN-POWER</h2> + + <div class="poem"> + <div class="stanza"> + <p>"She seeketh wool, and flax, and worketh willingly + with her hands.</p> + + <p>She is like the merchant's ships; she bringeth her + food from afar.</p> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <hr /> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <p>"She girdeth her loins with strength, and + strengtheneth her arms.</p> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <hr /> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <p>"Strength and honour are her clothing; and she shall + rejoice in time to come."</p> + </div> + </div> + + <p class="author">—PROV., Chap. + 31.</p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page91" + id="page91"></a>[pg 91]</span> + + <p>The first result of the outbreak of war for women was to + throw thousands of them out of work.</p> + + <p>Nobody knew—not even the ablest financial and + commercial men—just what a great European war was going + to mean, and luxury trades ceased to get orders; women + journalists, women writers, women lecturers, and women workers + of every type were thrown out of work and unemployment was very + great.</p> + + <p>A National Relief Fund was started for general distress and + the Queen dealt in the ablest manner with the women's problem. + She issued this appeal: "In the firm belief that prevention of + distress is better than its relief, and employment is better + than charity, I have inaugurated the 'Queen's Work for Women + Fund,' Its object is to provide employment for as many as + possible of the women of this country who have been + <span class="pagenum"><a name="page92" + id="page92"></a>[pg 92]</span> thrown out of work by the + war. I appeal to the women of Great Britain to help their + less fortunate sisters through the fund.</p> + + <p>"MARY R."</p> + + <p>This appeal was instantly responded to and large sums were + subscribed. A very representative Committee of Women was + established, with Miss Mary MacArthur, the well known Trade + Union leader, as Hon. Secretary and the Queen was in daily + touch with its work.</p> + + <p>In the dislocation of industry which had caused the + committee's formation, it was found that there was great + slackness in one trade or a part of it and great pressure in + other parts of it or other trades. The problem was to use the + unemployed firms and workers for the new national needs.</p> + + <p>The committee considered it part of their work to endeavor + to increase the number of firms getting Government contracts, + and they created a special Contracts Department, under the + direction of Mr. J.J. Mallon, of the Anti-sweating League. + They, as a result, advised in regard to + <span class="pagenum"><a name="page93" + id="page93"></a>[pg 93]</span> the placing of contracts and + they undertook to get articles for the Government, or + ordered by other sources, manufactured by firms adversely + affected by the war or in their own workrooms. They worked + with the firms accustomed to making men's clothing and now + unemployed, and found that they could easily take military + contracts if certain technical difficulties were removed. + They interviewed the War Office authorities, modifications + were suggested and approved and the full employment in the + tailoring trade which followed gave a greatly improved + supply of army clothing. Contracts were secured from the war + office for khaki cloth, blankets, and various kinds of + hosiery, and these were carried out by manufacturers who + otherwise would have had to close down.</p> + + <p>The Queen gave orders for her own gifts to the troops, and + considerable work was done through trade workshops, care being + taken to see that this work was only done where ordinary trade + was fully employed. Two contracts from the War Office, typical + of others, were for 20,000 + <span class="pagenum"><a name="page94" + id="page94"></a>[pg 94]</span> shirts and for 2,000,000 + pairs of army socks. Over 130 firms received contracts + through the committee.</p> + + <p>New openings for trades were tested and the possibility of + the transference of work formerly done in Germany.</p> + + <p>In its Relief Work the committee had its greatest problems. + It was clear that if rates paid were high, women would come in + from badly paid trades, and it was clear that if they sold the + work, it would injure trade—so in the end it was decided + to pay a low wage, 11/6 a week—and to give away, through + the right agencies, the garments and things made in the + workrooms.</p> + + <p>The inefficiency of many workers was very clear and training + schemes resulted—for typing, shorthand, in leather work, + chair seat willowing, in cookery, dressmaking and + dress-cutting, home nursing, etc.</p> + + <p>Professional women were helped through various funds and + workrooms were established by other organizations, several + being started in London by the + N.U.W.S.S.</p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page95" + id="page95"></a>[pg 95]</span> + + <div class="figright" + style="width:30%;"> + <a href="images/plate98-1.jpg"><img width="100%" + src="images/plate98-1.jpg" + alt="CLEANING A LOCOMOTIVE" /></a> + WOMEN AS CARRIAGE CLEANERS + </div> + + <div class="figright" + style="width:30%;"> + <a href="images/plate98-2.jpg"><img width="100%" + src="images/plate98-2.jpg" + alt="CLEANING A LOCOMOTIVE" /></a> + CLEANING A LOCOMOTIVE + </div> + + <p>As the months went on women began to be absorbed more and + more into industry. Men were going into the army ceaselessly, + our war needs were growing greater and our women found work + opening out more and more. The Women's Service Bureau had been + opened within a week of the outbreak of war and had done + valuable work in placing women, before the Board of Trade + issued its first official appeal to women, additional to those + already in industry, to volunteer for War Service. It was sent + out by Mr. Runciman, President of the Board of Trade, and read + as follows:</p> + + <blockquote> + <p>The President of the Board of Trade wishes to call + attention to the fact that in the present emergency, if the + full fighting power of the nation is to be put forth on the + field of battle, the full working power of the nation must + be made available to carry on its essential trades at home. + Already, in certain important occupations there are not + enough men and women to do the work. + <span class="pagenum"><a name="page96" + id="page96"></a>[pg 96]</span> This shortage will + certainly spread to other occupations as more and more + men join the fighting forces.</p> + + <p>In order to meet both the present and the future needs + of national industry during the war, the Government wish to + obtain particulars of the women available, with or without + previous training, for paid employment. Accordingly, they + invite all women who are prepared, if needed, to take paid + employment of any kind—industrial, agricultural, + clerical, etc.—to enter themselves upon the Register + of Women for War Service which is being prepared by the + Board of Trade Labour Exchanges.</p> + + <p>Any woman living in a town where there is a Labour + Exchange can register by going there in person. If she is + not near a Labour Exchange she can get a form of + registration from the local agency of the Unemployment + Fund. Forms will also be sent out through a number of + women's societies.</p> + + <p>The object of registration is to find out + <span class="pagenum"><a name="page97" + id="page97"></a>[pg 97]</span> what reserve force of + women's labour, trained or untrained, can be made + available if required. As from time to time actual + openings for employment present themselves, notice will + be given through the Labor Exchanges, with full details + as to the nature of work, conditions, and pay, and, so + far as special training is necessary, arrangements will, + if possible, be made for the purpose.</p> + + <p>Any woman who by working helps to release a man or to + equip a man for fighting does national war service. Every + woman should register who is able and willing to take + employment.</p> + </blockquote> + + <p>The forms were sent out in large numbers through the women's + societies of the country, and it was stated on them that women + were wanted at once for farm-work, dairy work, brush-making, + leather stitching, clothing, machinery and machining for + armaments.</p> + + <p>By next day the registrations were 4,000, mostly + middle-class women, and in the first week + <span class="pagenum"><a name="page98" + id="page98"></a>[pg 98]</span> 20,000 registered and an + average of 5,000 a week after, but the mass of women who + registered waited with no real lead or use of them for a + long time. The Government seemed to suffer from a delusion a + great many people have, that if you have enough machinery + and masses of names something is being done, but you do not + solve any problem by registers. You solve it by getting the + workers and the work together.</p> + + <p>The Government had not approached employers at first, but + had left it to them entirely to take the initiative in this + great replacement. This they had to a considerable extent done, + using the Labour Exchanges and the other agencies and women + were more and more quickly, steadily, ceaselessly replacing + men.</p> + + <p>The appeals for women for munition work were most swiftly + responded to and educated women volunteered in thousands, as + did working girls and women.</p> + + <p>The question of assisting employment by fitting more women + for commercial and industrial occupations was considered by the + Government, <span class="pagenum"><a name="page99" + id="page99"></a>[pg 99]</span> and in October, 1915, the + Clerical and Commercial Occupations Committee was appointed + by the Home Office—a similar committee being set up + for Scotland. It arranged with the London County Council and + with local authorities that their Education Committees + should initiate emergency courses all over the country for + training in general clerical work, bookkeeping and office + routine. The courses lasted from three to ten weeks, and the + age of the students varied from eighteen to thirty-five.</p> + + <p>Many free courses were inaugurated by business firms in + large London stores, notably Harrods and Whiteleys, where their + courses included all office and business training. Six week + courses of free training for the grocery trade, for the boot + trade, lens making, waiting, hairdressing, etc., were also + given.</p> + + <p>Our woman labor has been found to be quite mobile and girls + have moved in thousands from one part of the country to + another, and the munition girl travelling home on holiday on + her special permit is a familiar + figure.</p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page100" + id="page100"></a>[pg 100]</span> + + <p>The registration, placing and moving of our workers is all + done by our Labour Exchanges, now renamed Employment Exchanges + and transferred from the Board of Trade to the Ministry of + Labour.</p> + + <p>When the National Service Department was set up, a Women's + Branch was established with Mrs. H.J. Tennant, and Miss Violet + Markham as Co-directors, and they made various appeals, + registered women for the land, munitions, W.A.A.C. and for wood + cutting and pitprop making. A great demonstration of "Women's + Service" was held in the Albert Hall in January 17, 1917, at + which Mrs. Tennant and Miss Markham, Lord Derby, Minister of + War; Mr. Prothero, President of the Board of Agriculture, and + Mr. John Hodge, Minister of Labour, spoke and at which the + Queen was present. It was an appeal to women for more work and + a registration of their determination to go on doing all that + was needed. The men's message was one to equals—they + asked great things. A message from Queen Mary was read for the + first time at any public + <span class="pagenum"><a name="page101" + id="page101"></a>[pg 101]</span> meeting and it was the only + occasion on which she has attended one.</p> + + <p>The number of women now in our industry directly replacing + men, according to our latest returns, is over one and a quarter + millions. This does not include domestic service, where our + maids grow less and less numerous and Sir Auckland Geddes, + Director of National Service, tells us he is considering + cutting down servants in any establishment to not more than + three, and it does not include very small shops and firms.</p> + + <p>The processes in industry in which women work are numbered + in hundreds. The War Office in 1916 issued an official + memorandum for the use of Military Representatives and + Tribunals setting forth the processes in which women worked and + the trades and occupations, and giving photographs of women + doing unaccustomed and heavy work, to guide the Tribunals in + deciding exemptions of men called up for Military Service.</p> + + <p>In professional work today women are everywhere. There are + 198,000 women in Government + <span class="pagenum"><a name="page102" + id="page102"></a>[pg 102]</span> Departments, 83,000 of + these new since the war. They are doing typing, shorthand, + and secretarial work, organizing and executive work. They + are in the Censor's office in large numbers and doing + important work at the Census of Production. There are + 146,000 on Local Government work. The woman teacher has + invaded that stronghold of man in England, the Boys' High + and Grammar Schools, and is doing good work there. They are + replacing men chemists in works, doing research, working at + dental mechanics, are tracing plans. They are driving motor + cars in large numbers. Our Prime Minister has a woman + chauffeur. They are driving delivery vans and bringing us + our goods, our bread and our milk. They carry a great part + of our mail and trudge through villages and cities with it. + They drive our mail vans, and I know two daughters of a peer + who drive mail vans in London. I know other women who never + did any work in their lives who for three years have worked + in factories, taking the same work, the same holidays, the + same pay as the other girls. + <span class="pagenum"><a name="page103" + id="page103"></a>[pg 103]</span> Women are gardeners, + elevator attendants, commissionaires and conductors on our + buses and trams, and in provincial towns drive many of the + electric trams.</p> + + <div class="figright" + style="width:30%;"> + <a href="images/plate107-1.jpg"><img width="100%" + src="images/plate107-1.jpg" + alt="WINDOW CLEANERS" /></a>WINDOW CLEANERS + </div> + + <div class="figright" + style="width:30%;"> + <a href="images/plate107-2.jpg"><img width="100%" + src="images/plate107-2.jpg" + alt="STEAM ROLLER DRIVER" /></a>STEAM ROLLER DRIVER + </div> + + <p>In the railways they are booking clerks, carriage and engine + cleaners and greasers, and carriage repairers, cooks and + waiters in dining cars, platform, parcel and goods porters, + telegraphists and ticket collectors and inspectors, and + labourers and wagon sheet repairers. They work in quarries, are + coal workers, clean ships, are park-keepers and cinema + operators. They are commercial travellers in large numbers. + They are in banks to a great extent and are now taking banking + examinations.</p> + + <p>There was a very strong feeling as the replacement by women + went on that there must be no lowering of wage standards which + would not only be grossly unfair to women but imperil the + returning soldier's chance of getting his post back.</p> + + <p>Mrs. Fawcett, on behalf of the Women's Interests Committee + of the N.U.W.S.S., called + <span class="pagenum"><a name="page104" + id="page104"></a>[pg 104]</span> a conference on the + question of War Service and wages in 1915, and Mr. Runciman + stated at the conference:</p> + + <blockquote> + <p>As regards the wages and conditions on which women + should be employed, as a general principle the Exchanges + did not, and could not, take direct responsibility as to + the wages and conditions, beyond giving in each case such + information as was in their possession. In regard, however, + to Government contractors, it had been laid down that the + piece rates for women should be the same as for men, and + further special instructions had been given to the + Exchanges to inform inexperienced applicants of the current + wages in each case, so that they should be fully apprised + as to the wage which it was reasonable for them to ask. A + general safeguard against permanent lowering of wages by + the admission of women to take the place of men on service + would be made by asking employers, so far + <span class="pagenum"><a name="page105" + id="page105"></a>[pg 105]</span> as possible, to keep + the men's places open for them on their return.</p> + </blockquote> + + <p>Wages in most cases are at the same rate as men, and as + women are organized in Britain in large numbers, the Trades + Unions and Women's Committees are always alive and ready to act + on the question of payment and conditions. Our workers, men and + women, are very well paid and despite high prices, were never + more comfortable, and never saved more. The call for women to + replace men still goes on in Britain. Miners are going to be + combed out again. The Trade Unions have been again approached + by the Premier and Sir Auckland Geddes on this question of man + power. The Battalions must be filled up—in France we need + 2,000,000 men all the time and of these 1,670,000 are from our + own Islands.</p> + + <p>It is calculated there are in Britain today—Ireland is + not tapped in woman power any more than in man power—less + than a million women who could do more important work for the + war <span class="pagenum"><a name="page106" + id="page106"></a>[pg 106]</span> than they are now doing. + Most of these are already doing work of one kind or another, + but could probably do more.</p> + + <p>Our homes, our industries, munitions, the land, hospitals, + Government service and the Waac's are absorbing us in our + millions. Britain could not have raised her Army and Navy and + could not now keep her men in the field without the + mobilization of her women and their ceaseless, tireless work + behind her men, and as substitutes for them, in the working + life of the + community.</p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page107" + id="page107"></a>[pg 107]</span> + + <h3>CHAPTER VI</h3> + + <h2>WOMEN IN MUNITIONS</h2> + + <div class="poem"> + <div class="stanza"> + <p>"For all we have and are,</p> + + <p class="i2">For all our children's fate—</p> + + <p>Rise up and meet the war,</p> + + <p class="i2">The Hun is at the gate.</p> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <hr class="short" /> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <p>"Comfort, content, delight,</p> + + <p class="i2">The ages' slow-bought gain,</p> + + <p>Have shrivelled in a night,</p> + + <p class="i2">Only ourselves remain.</p> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <hr class="short" /> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <p>"Though all we knew depart,</p> + + <p class="i2">The old commandments stand,</p> + + <p>In courage keep your heart,</p> + + <p class="i2">In strength lift up your hand."</p> + </div> + </div> + + <p class="author">—RUDYARD + KIPLING.</p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page109" + id="page109"></a>[pg 109]</span> + + <blockquote> + <p>"Hats off to the Women of Britain!"—Sir ARTHUR + CONAN DOYLE in <i>The Times</i>, November 28, 1916.</p> + </blockquote> + + <p>When war broke out the Government had three National + workshops producing munitions—today it has 100, and it + controls over 5,000 establishments through the Ministry of + Munitions, many of which are continually growing in size.</p> + + <p>The total output has increased over thirty-fold but in many + cases increase in production has been far greater. In guns, the + production of 4.5 field howitzers is over fifty times as large; + of machine guns and howitzers over seventy times and of heavy + howitzers (over 6 inch) over 420 times as large.</p> + + <p>More small shell is now made in a fortnight than formerly in + a year, and the increase in output of heavy shell has been + still larger. Equally striking results have been attained in + <span class="pagenum"><a name="page110" + id="page110"></a>[pg 110]</span> the production of machine + guns, aeroplanes motor bodies, and the other war supplies, + for which demand and replacement have necessarily grown with + the demand for guns and shells. To these have to be added + the ships and the anti-submarine and anti-aircraft machines + and devices that have been demanded by the enemy's method of + warfare.</p> + + <p>This work has only been possible in a country that has + raised five million men, 75 per cent from our own islands, + because of what women have done.</p> + + <p>Today there are between 800,000 and 1,000,000 women in + munitions works in our country, and the history of their entry + and work is a wonderful one. Women themselves were quicker than + the Government to realize how much they would be needed in + munitions, and started to train before openings were ready.</p> + + <p>Women realized vividly what Lloyd George's speech of June, + 1915, made clear, the urgent, terrible need of our men for more + munitions—the Germans could send over ten shells to our + <span class="pagenum"><a name="page111" + id="page111"></a>[pg 111]</span> one—and women + volunteered in thousands for munition work.</p> + + <p>The London Society for Women's Suffrage, which was running + "Women's Service," had women volunteers for munitions in + enormous numbers and tried to secure openings for them. It + investigated and found that acetylene welders were badly + needed. There were very few in Britain, and welding is + essential for aircraft and other work, so they started to find + out if there were classes for training women, and found none in + Technical Schools were open to women. They found welders were + needed very much in certain aircraft factories in the + neighborhood of London and the manager of one assured them that + if women were trained satisfactorily for oxy-acetylene welding, + he would give them a trial. So "Women's Service" decided to + open a small workshop and secured Miss E.C. Woodward, a metal + worker of long standing, as instructor. The school was started + in a small way with six pupils. Oxy-acetylene welding is the + most <span class="pagenum"><a name="page112" + id="page112"></a>[pg 112]</span> effective way of securing a + perfect weld without any deleterious effect upon the + metal.</p> + + <p>The great heat needed for the purpose of uniting two or more + pieces of metal so as to make of them an autogenous whole is + obtained, in this process, by the burning of acetylene gas in + conjunction with oxygen.</p> + + <p>Carbide, looking like little lumps of granite, is placed in + a tray at the bottom of the generator for acetylene gas, which + is of the form of a small portable gasometer. The tap, + admitting water to the carbide trays, is turned on, and gas at + once generates, and forces up the generator in the way so + familiar to those who often see a gasometer. This gas passes + through a tube to the blow-pipe of the welder, or to any other + use for which it is destined.</p> + + <div class="figright" + style="width:30%;"> + <a href="images/plate118.jpg"><img width="100%" + src="images/plate118.jpg" + alt="TRAINING WOMEN AS AEROPLANE BUILDERS" /> + </a>TRAINING WOMEN AS AEROPLANE BUILDERS + </div> + + <p>In oxy-acetylene welding, the process employs the flame + produced by the combustion in a suitable blow-pipe of oxygen + and acetylene. When a light is applied to the nozzle of the + pipe a yellow flame, a foot long, flares up, and in the centre + of it, close to the nozzle, appears a very small, + <span class="pagenum"><a name="page113" + id="page113"></a>[pg 113]</span> dazzling, bluish flame, + which can only safely be gazed upon by eyes protected by + coloured glasses. The temperature of this flame at the apex + is about 6,300 degrees Fahr., and it is with this that the + metals to be welded together are brought to a suitable + degree of heat.</p> + + <p>The workers' eyes are protected by black goggles, their hair + confined by caps or handkerchiefs, and overalls or + leather-aprons protect their clothes from the sparks and also + from the smuts which naturally accrue on surrounding objects. + Each welder holds in her right hand the blow-pipe of the craft, + from which depends two long flexible tubes, one conducting + oxygen from the tall cylinder in the corner, and the other + acetylene from the generator. In her left hand she holds the + welding-stick of soft Swedish iron, from which tiny molten + drops fall upon the glowing edges of the metal to be welded + together. The work is fascinating even to the onlooker, and to + see the result, metal so welded you feel it is impossible it + ever could have been two pieces, is still more + fascinating.</p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page114" + id="page114"></a>[pg 114]</span> + + <p>The first welders triumphantly passed their tests and gave + every satisfaction in the factory, and the training went on and + the School was enlarged.</p> + + <p>The oxy-acetylene welders turned out by this School have + gone all over the country and 220 were trained and placed in + the first year. Those selected were, with few exceptions, + educated women, which was undoubtedly a material factor in the + success of their work. This School opened training to women and + welding is now taught to women in many of our Technical + Schools. A class in Elementary Engineering has also been + carried on by Women's Service with great success and the women + placed in workshops.</p> + + <p>The Ministry of Munitions has also arranged, in conjunction + with the London County Council and other Educational + Authorities, to have free munition training for women at every + centre in the Kingdom. The courses vary from six to nine weeks + and maintenance grants are paid during the period of + training.</p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page115" + id="page115"></a>[pg 115]</span> + + <p>In October, 1915, the Central Labour Supply Committee which + dealt with women's and men's conditions, issued certain + recommendations in Circular L.2. These dealt with the + conditions and rates of pay of women and fully skilled and + unskilled men. The provision of this much-discussed circular + that affected women doing skilled work was in Clause 1, which + provides that "Women employed on work customarily done by fully + skilled tradesmen shall be paid the time rates of the tradesman + whose work they undertake."</p> + + <p>These provisions were then only binding on the Government + establishments, and could not be enforced by the Ministry of + Munitions in controlled establishments. On December 31, 1915, a + conference was held between the Prime Minister, the Minister of + Munitions and representatives of the Amalgamated Society of + Engineers, when an agreement in regard to "dilution" was + arranged. Circular L. 2 was adopted at this conference as the + basis of the undertaking given by the Ministry in regard to + dilution of labor. <span class="pagenum"><a name="page116" + id="page116"></a>[pg 116]</span> An employer under it can be + punished as contravening the Munitions Act if he fails to + carry out the direction of the Minister. The power of + enforcing the provisions of L. 2 were acquired in January, + 1916, and it is quite obvious that in this circular a + principle of the greatest importance to men and women is + laid down. Women were wholly averse to being "blacklegs" in + industry.</p> + + <p>The great work of "Dilution" in Munitions—and by + dilution we mean the use in industry of unskilled, semi-skilled + and woman labor, so that highly skilled men may not be used + except for the most important work—is done by the + Dilution Department of the Ministry of Munitions, which issues + Dilution of Labour Bulletins and Process Sheets periodically, + showing the work women are doing. A series of exhibitions of + women's work have also been arranged by the Technical Section + of the Labour Supply Department in all the big towns in + England. In Sheffield over 16,000 people came to see the + <span class="pagenum"><a name="page117" + id="page117"></a>[pg 117]</span> Exhibition—the + largest number of these being foremen and workmen sent by + their firms.</p> + + <div class="figright" + style="width:30%;"> + <a href="images/plate123-1.jpg"><img width="100%" + src="images/plate123-1.jpg" + alt="RIVETTING ON BOILERS" /></a>RIVETTING ON BOILERS + </div> + + <div class="figright" + style="width:30%;"> + <a href="images/plate123-2.jpg"><img width="100%" + src="images/plate123-2.jpg" + alt="FACING BOILER BLUE FLANGES" /></a>FACING BOILER + BLUE FLANGES + </div> + + <p>The Exhibitions consist of two main sections, one of which + shows actual samples of munitions made by women, and the other + of photographs of women doing work on apparatus or processes + that could not be shown. A complete Clerget engine, for + instance, was lent by the Air Board to illustrate the final + assembly of the numerous parts of these engines being made + wholly or partly by women. In the same way, many parts of + complete Stokes Guns, Vickers Machine Guns and Service Rifles + were exhibited. The exhibits were divided into fifteen groups. + The first group dealing with engines for aircraft. The second + group showed engines for motor cars, tanks, tractors, motor + buses, motor lorries and motor vehicles.</p> + + <p>A separate group consisted of a variety of accessories for + internal combustion engines, including air pump for the Clerget + engine, which is completely manufactured and assembled by + women, largely under women supervision; and + <span class="pagenum"><a name="page118" + id="page118"></a>[pg 118]</span> magnetos, a very important + and accurate industry, before the war largely in German + hands, of which women now undertake the entire + manufacture.</p> + + <p>The fourth group dealt with steam engines, including details + of locomotives, high speed engines, steam winches, and steam + turbines.</p> + + <p>The next two groups dealt respectively with guns and + components and with small arms.</p> + + <p>The next three groups included gauges, drills, cutters, + punches and dies, trucks, jigs, tap pieces and general + tool-room work. The gauges included plug, ring, cylinder and + screw gauges to the closest degrees of accuracy, which in + practice are verified by the rigid inspection of the National + Physical Laboratory.</p> + + <p>A fair illustration of the accuracy that is habitually + required in a large volume of work is to be seen in the final + gauging and inspection of a screw gauge for a fuse, in which + the women inspectors were described in the catalogue as + examining these screws by an optical projection apparatus, + magnifying fifty times, with the help + <span class="pagenum"><a name="page119" + id="page119"></a>[pg 119]</span> of which the inspector + notes the defects in size and form, and the necessary + corrections.</p> + + <p>The cutting tools included sets of cutters for the + manufacture of shells, as well as twist drills, reamers, + milling cutters, gear cutters, screwing dies, taps and lathe + tools. Some of this work is of high accuracy, and a set of + solid screwing dies has the particular interest that almost all + the operations are carried out by women after they have been in + the shop for a fortnight. The general tool-room work included + an exhibit of seventy-one punches and dies for cartridge + making. Another set of dies was shown for small-arms + ammunition, and specimens were also exhibited of chucks, + die-heads and other work.</p> + + <p>Two other groups dealt with the metal fittings and wooden + structural parts of aircraft, and to see girls work on these is + intensely interesting—anything more fragile looking and + more beautiful than the long uncovered wing it would be + difficult to find. A notable feature of the metal group was a + number of parts that are marked off from drawings by women + working under a woman charge-hand, + <span class="pagenum"><a name="page120" + id="page120"></a>[pg 120]</span> and themselves making their + own scribing-templates when necessary. Many examples of + welding work were also shown.</p> + + <p>There were Optical Munitions and medical and surgical glass + and X-ray tubes made entirely by women, and the Exhibitions + record the progress of women in Munitions in the most wonderful + and striking way.</p> + + <p>Mr. Ben. H. Morgan, Chief Officer, in a recent speech on + Munitions and Production said:</p> + + <blockquote> + <p>"Labor had to be found to staff the thousands of + factories in which this stupendous production was to be + carried out, and it has been possible to find it only by + subdividing work closely, and entrusting a large variety of + machinery and fitting to women, with the help of the + fullest possible equipment of jigs and all available + appliances for mechanically defining and facilitating the + work, and of instruction by skilled men. By this means an + output has been obtained that will compare favorably with + that of any class of + <span class="pagenum"><a name="page121" + id="page121"></a>[pg 121]</span> workers in any country. + Comparing, for instance, our women's figures of output + on certain sizes of shell and types of fuses with those + of men in the United States, I found recently that the + women's machining times were not only as good but in + many cases better than those of men in some of the best + organized American shops.</p> + + <p>"This is an extraordinary result to have been obtained + from women who, for the most part, had never known either + the work or the discipline of factory life, and were wholly + unused to mechanical operations. More than one circumstance + has doubtless contributed to making it possible; but it is + my assured conviction that foremost among the incentives by + which women have been helped has been their constant + thought of their flesh and blood, their husbands, brothers, + sons, sweethearts, in the trenches. I know a typical + example in a Yorkshire mother, who early in the war sent + her only son to the fighting line. The lad was a skilled + <span class="pagenum"><a name="page122" + id="page122"></a>[pg 122]</span> mechanic, and she took + his place at his lathe in the Leeds shops where he + worked. She is not only keeping this job going, but her + output on the job she is doing is a record for the whole + country."</p> + </blockquote> + + <p>The women workers' productions has been admirable and is + steady and continues so. The <i>Manchester Guardian</i> of + November 15, 1915, astounded women and men alike by its + announcement that "figures were produced in proof of the very + startling assertion that the output of the women munition + workers is slightly more than double that of men."</p> + + <p>In the latest Dilution of Labour Bulletin this is + recorded:</p> + + <center> + "A GOOD BEGINNING + </center> + + <blockquote> + <p>"A firm in the London and South Eastern district making + propellers for aeroplanes has recently begun the employment + of women, and the results are exceeding all expectations. + As an instance it is reported + <span class="pagenum"><a name="page123" + id="page123"></a>[pg 123]</span> that five women are now + doing the work of scraping, formerly done by six men, + with an increase of 70 per cent in output."</p> + </blockquote> + + <p>The way in which managers, foremen and skilled men have + trained and helped the women and work with them cannot be too + highly praised—the success of "dilution"—the + ability of women to help their country in this way, was only + possible through the good will and co-operation of our great + Trade Unions and skilled men.</p> + + <p>Women supervisors and examiners are trained at Woolwich, and + the first of these were found by "Women's Service," and we find + women control and manage large numbers of women in the big + works extremely well. One girl of twenty-three, the daughter of + a famous engineer, is controlling the work of 6,000 women who + are working on submarines, guns, aircraft, and all manner of + munitions.</p> + + <p>One great engineer who believes in women and women's future + in engineering has started what we might term an engineering + college for women.</p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page124" + id="page124"></a>[pg 124]</span> + + <p>He has built a model factory away in the hills "somewhere in + Scotland" with four tiers of ferro-cement floors. It is built + with the idea of taking 300 women students and eight months + after it opened, it had sixty women students. It is a factory + entirely for women, run by, and to a large extent managed by + women, with the exception of two men instructors. In the ground + floor the girls are working at parts of high power aeroplane + engines, under their works superintendent, a woman who took her + Mathematical Tripos at Newnham College, and was lecturer at one + of our girls' public schools. The women rank as engineer + apprentices and their hours are forty-four a week. The first + six months are probationary with pay at 20/- ($5) a week, and + the students are doing extremely well.</p> + + <p>"Women are now part and parcel of our great army," said the + Earl of Derby, on July 13, 1916, "without them it would be + impossible for progress to be made, but with them I believe + victory can be assured."</p> + + <div class="figright" + style="width:30%;"> + <a href="images/plate132.jpg"><img width="100%" + src="images/plate132.jpg" + alt="ROUGH TURNING JACKET FORGING OF 6-POUNDER, HOTCHKISS GUN" /> + </a>ROUGH TURNING JACKET FORGING OF 6-POUNDER, HOTCHKISS + GUN + </div> + + <p>Mr. Asquith, too, has paid his tribute to the + <span class="pagenum"><a name="page125" + id="page125"></a>[pg 125]</span> woman munition maker and to + others who are doing men's work. In a memorable speech on + the Second Reading of the Special Register Bill, he admitted + that the women of this country have rendered as effective + service in the prosecution of the war as any other class of + the community. "It is true they cannot fight in the gross + material sense of going out with rifles and so forth, but + they fill our munition factories, they are doing the work + which the men who are fighting had to perform before, they + have taken their places, they are the servants of the State + and they have aided in the most effective way in the + prosecution of the war."</p> + + <p>Our munition women are in the shipyards, the engineering + shops, the aeroplane sheds, the shell shops, flocking in + thousands into the cities, leaving homes and friends to work in + the munition cities we have built since the war. When our great + arsenals and factories empty, women pour out in thousands. + Night and day they have worked as the men have and it has been + no easy or light task. We know that still more will be + <span class="pagenum"><a name="page126" + id="page126"></a>[pg 126]</span> demanded of us, but we + think, as our four million men do, that these things are + well worth doing for the freedom of the souls of the + nations.</p> + + <p>In the munition factories that feeling and conviction burns + like a flame and the enemy who thinks to demoralize our men and + our women by bombing our homes and our workshops finds the + workers, men and women, only made more determined.</p> + + <p>The women handle high explosives in the "danger buildings" + for ten and a half hours in a shift, making and inserting the + detonating fuses, where a slip may result in their own death + and that of their comrades. Working with T.N.T. they turn + yellow—hands and face and hair—and risk poisoning. + They are called the "canary girls," and if you ask why they do + it they will tell you it isn't too much to risk when men risk + everything in the trenches—and sometimes the one they + cared for most is in a grave in France or on some other front, + and they "carry on."</p> + + <p>The Prime Minister paid a tribute to munition + <span class="pagenum"><a name="page127" + id="page127"></a>[pg 127]</span> makers in one of his + speeches when he said:</p> + + <p>"I remember perfectly well when I was Minister of Munitions + we had very dangerous work. It involved a special alteration in + one element of our shells. We had to effect that alteration. If + we had manufactured the whole thing anew it would have involved + the loss of hundreds of thousands of rounds of ammunition at a + time when we could not afford it. But the adaptation of the old + element with a fuse is a very dangerous operation, and there + were several fatal accidents. It was all amongst the women + workers in the munition factories; there was never a panic. + They stuck to their work. They knew the peril. They never ran + away from it."</p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page129" + id="page129"></a>[pg 129]</span> + + <h3>CHAPTER VII</h3> + + <h2>THE PROTECTION OF WOMEN IN INDUSTRY</h2> + + <div class="poem"> + <div class="stanza"> + <p>"Are our faces grave, and our eyes intent?</p> + + <p>Is every ounce that is in us bent</p> + + <p>On the uttermost pitch of accomplishment?</p> + + <p><i>Though it's long and long the day is.</i></p> + + <p>Ah! we know what it means if we fool or slack;</p> + + <p>—A rifle jammed—and one comes not + back;</p> + + <p>And we never forget—it's for us they gave.</p> + + <p>And so we will slave, and slave, and slave,</p> + + <p>Lest the men at the front should rue it.</p> + + <p>Their all they gave, and their lives we'll save,</p> + + <p>If the hardest of work can do it;—</p> + + <p><i>Though it's long and long the day is.</i>"</p> + </div> + </div> + + <p class="author">—JOHN + OXENHAM.</p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page131" + id="page131"></a>[pg 131]</span> + + <p>The Ministry of Munitions has a great department devoted to + the work of looking after our workers' interests.</p> + + <p>This department of the Ministry was established by Mr. Lloyd + George. Mr. Rowntree, whose work is so well known, was put in + charge.</p> + + <p>The health of the Munition Workers' Committee was set up + when the Ministry was established with the concurrence of the + Home Secretary, "To consider and advise on questions of + industrial fatigue, hours of labor, and other matters affecting + the personal health and physical efficiency of workers in + munition factories and work shops."</p> + + <p>Sir George Newman, M.D., is chairman of the committee and + the two women members are Mrs. H.J. Tennant and Miss R.E. + Squire. Memoranda on various industrial problems have been + <span class="pagenum"><a name="page132" + id="page132"></a>[pg 132]</span> drawn up by the committee + and acted upon—the first being on Sunday labour.</p> + + <p>In the early part of the war our men and women frequently + worked seven days in the week and shifts were very long for + women as for men. Practically no holidays were taken in answer + to Lord Kitchener's appeals. The regulations preventing women + from working on Sunday had been removed in a limited number of + cases. The investigation of the committee in November, 1915, + showed that Sunday labor when it meant excessive hours was bad + and it did not increase output, that the strain on foremen and + managers in particular was very great, and they recommended a + modification of the policy.</p> + + <p>In a later Memorandum, No. 12, on output in relation to + hours of work, very interesting figures were given, practically + all showing increased output as a result of shorter hours of + labor.</p> + + <p>The committee reported in Memorandum No. 5 that it was of + the opinion that continuous work by women in excess of the + normal legal limit of sixty hours per week ought to be + discontinued <span class="pagenum"><a name="page133" + id="page133"></a>[pg 133]</span> as soon as practicable, and + that the shift system should be used instead of + overtime.</p> + + <p>A special Memorandum, No. 4, was entirely concerned with the + employment of women and dealt with hours, conditions, rest and + meals, management and supervision, and it strongly urged every + precaution and protection for women.</p> + + <p>The Welfare Department meantime had started on its work of + securing, training and appointing Welfare Supervisors, Miss + Alleyne looking after that branch of the work.</p> + + <p>The Department was "charged, with the general responsibility + of securing a high standard of conditions" for the workers.</p> + + <p>The growth of the work has been enormous. The Ministry of + Munitions today has large numbers of Welfare Supervisors with + every Government establishment and the controlled + establishments have them also. In Government shops they are + paid by the Ministry, in controlled establishments by the + management and their <span class="pagenum"><a name="page134" + id="page134"></a>[pg 134]</span> appointment is notified to + the Welfare Department.</p> + + <p>The Ministry has issued a leaflet on "Duties of Welfare + Supervisors for Women," which is given at the end of this + chapter.</p> + + <p>It will be seen that the Welfare Worker must be a rather + wonderful person. She must be tactful, know how to handle + girls, and be a person of judgment and decision. We have + succeeded in securing a very large number of admirable women + and excellent work is being done. The Welfare Workers are in + their turn inspected by Welfare Inspectors and Miss Proud, the + Chief Inspector in dangerous factories, who sees the + precautions against risk of poisoning from Tri-nitro-toluol, + Tetryl, the aeroplane wing dope, etc., are all carried out by + the management, has written an admirable textbook on welfare + work. The country for this purpose is divided into nine areas, + and two women inspectors work in each.</p> + + <p>Woolwich Arsenal is one of our great centres of women's work + and the Chief Welfare Supervisor there, Miss Lilian Barker, is + the most <span class="pagenum"><a name="page135" + id="page135"></a>[pg 135]</span> capable woman Supervisor in + Britain, a statesman among Supervisors. Any visitor to the + Arsenal cannot help being struck by the general impression + of contentment, happiness and health of the woman worker + there in her thousands. It is rare to see a sickly face + among them, even among the girls in the Danger Zone. Miss + Barker is constantly adding to her own staff of supervisors + and training others for provincial centres. She and her + Assistants interview new hands and arrange changes and + transfers of women. She enquires into all complaints, + advises as to clothing, keeps an eye on the vast canteen + organization of Woolwich, and initiates schemes for + recreation—notices of whist drives, dances and + concerts are constantly up on the boards. The housing of the + immigrant workers—no small problem, she and her + assistants deal with. They suggest improvements in + conditions and are awake to signs of illness or overfatigue. + They follow the worker home and look after the young mother + and the sick girl and + women.</p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page136" + id="page136"></a>[pg 136]</span> + + <p>Hostels have been built there and all over the country by + the Government and by factory owners, and the Hostel + Supervisors have a big and useful work to do.</p> + + <p>They are very well arranged with a room for each girl and + nice rest rooms, dining rooms and good sickroom accommodations. + Rules are cut down to a minimum. Most Supervisors find out ways + of working without them.</p> + + <p>"Smoking is allowed at this end of the restroom," said one + Superintendent, "but since we have permitted this recreation, + it seems to have fallen out of favour," which seems to show + munition girls are very human.</p> + + <p>Hutments have also been built for married couples. Lodgings + are inspected and when suitable, scheduled for workers coming + to the area. In some cases the management in private factories + do not adopt formal welfare workers but get a woman of the + right type and put her in charge of the female operatives, with + generally excellent results. The value of the influence of this + work on our girls cannot be over-estimated—it + <span class="pagenum"><a name="page137" + id="page137"></a>[pg 137]</span> is an influence of the very + best kind, and our experiences in munition and welfare work, + every class of women working together, is going to be of + great and permanent good.</p> + + <div class="figright" + style="width:30%;"> + <a href="images/plate145.jpg"><img width="100%" + src="images/plate145.jpg" + alt="AN OFFICIAL BOOKLET FOR MUNITION WORKERS" /> + </a>AN OFFICIAL BOOKLET FOR MUNITION WORKERS + </div> + + <p>The professional woman and the girls who flock to London in + large numbers for work in Government Departments, must be + housed also, and there are many extremely good Hostels. Bedford + House, the old Bedford College for Women, is now a delightful + Hostel run by the Y.W.C.A., whose work for munition girls + deserves very special mention. They had Hostels over the + country before the war and have added to these. They have set + up Clubs all over the country for the girls in munitions and + industry in 150 centres, and these are very much appreciated + and used by thousands of girls.</p> + + <p>The feeding of the munition worker is another great piece of + work. It started, like so many of our things, in voluntary + effort. The conditions of the men and women working all night + and without any possibility of getting anything warm to eat and + drink and, exhausted with their heavy + <span class="pagenum"><a name="page138" + id="page138"></a>[pg 138]</span> work, made people feel + something must be done, and the first efforts were to send + round barrows with hot tea and coffee and sandwiches, etc. + More and more it was realized that the provision of proper + meals for the workers, men and women, was indispensable for + the maintenance of output on which our fighting forces + depended for their very lives—and the Government, the + Y.M.C.A., the Y.W.C.A. and various other agencies, started + to establish canteens. The Y.W.C.A. alone in its canteens + serves 80,000 meals a week. Large numbers of private firms + have established their own canteens.</p> + + <p>The Health of Munition Workers Committee reported, in + November, 1915, that it was extremely desirable to establish + canteens in every factory in which it would be useful. Many + canteens existed before the war, but they have been added to + enormously and the recommendations of the committee as to + accessibility, attractiveness, form, food and service carried + out.</p> + + <p>The Canteen Committee of the Liquor Control Board who have + looked after this work have + <span class="pagenum"><a name="page139" + id="page139"></a>[pg 139]</span> issued an admirable + official pamphlet, "Feeding the Munition Worker," in which + plans for construction and all details are given. An ideal + canteen should always provide facilities for the worker to + heat his or her own food.</p> + + <p>The prices are very reasonable, and in most cases only cover + cost of food and service, soup and bread is 4 cents—cut + from joint and two vegetables, 12 to 16 cents.</p> + + <div class="poem"> + <div class="stanza"> + <p>Puddings, 2 to 4 cents,</p> + + <p>Bread and cheese, 3 to 4 cents,</p> + + <p>Tea, coffee and cocoa, 2 cents a cup,</p> + </div> + </div> + + <p>and a variety is arranged in the week's menu.</p> + + <p>The Y.W.C.A. Huts are very popular. In some of them the + girls get dinners for 10 cents, and the dinner includes joint, + vegetables and pudding.</p> + + <p>There are comfortable chairs in them in which girls can rest + and attractive magazines and books to read in the little + restrooms. The workers in charge of these canteens are educated + women and the waiting and service is done by voluntary helpers. + There is not only excellent + <span class="pagenum"><a name="page140" + id="page140"></a>[pg 140]</span> feeding for our workers in + these canteens, but there is great economy in food and fuel. + To cook 400 dinners together is much less wasteful than to + cook them separately, and the cooks in these are generally + trained economists.</p> + + <p>The children, too, are not forgotten. Our welfare workers + follow the young mother home and find out if the children are + all right and well taken care of. We have done even more in the + war than before for our babies and the infant death rate is + falling. We have established excellent creches and nurseries + where they are needed.</p> + + <p>It is impossible to overestimate the value of all this work + in industry. The Prime Minister, speaking last year on this + subject, said, "It is a strange irony, but no small + compensation, that the making of weapons of destruction should + afford the occasion to humanize industry. Yet such is the case. + Old prejudices have vanished, new ideas are abroad; employers + and workers, the public and the State, are all favourable to + new methods. The opportunity must not be allowed to slip. It + may well be that, when the + <span class="pagenum"><a name="page141" + id="page141"></a>[pg 141]</span> tumult of war is a distant + echo and the making of munitions a nightmare of the past, + the effort now being made to soften asperities, to secure + the welfare of the workers, and to build a bridge of + sympathy and understanding between employer and employed, + will have left behind results of permanent and enduring + value to the workers, to the nation and to mankind at + large."</p> + + <p>I am no believer in the gloomy predictions of industrial + revolutions after the war. We will have revolutions—but + of the right kind and one thing has been clearly shown, that + the workers of our country are not only loyal citizens but + realize every issue of this conflict as vividly as anyone else. + On their work, men and women, our Navy, our Army and our + country, have depended—and they have not failed us in any + real thing.</p> + + <h3>MINISTRY OF MUNITIONS.</h3> + <hr class="short" /> + + <h4>DUTIES OF WELFARE SUPERVISORS FOR WOMEN.</h4> + + <center> + (Sometimes called EMPLOYMENT SUPERINTENDENTS.) + </center> + <hr class="short" /> + + <blockquote> + <p>NOTE.—It is not suggested that all these duties + <span class="pagenum"><a name="page142" + id="page142"></a>[pg 142]</span> should be imposed upon + the Employment Superintendent directly she is appointed. + The size of the Factory will to a certain extent + determine the scope of her work, and in assigning her + duties regard will of course be had to her professional + ability to cope with them.</p> + + <p>These officers are responsible solely to the firms that + employ them, and in no sense to the Ministry of + Munitions.</p> + </blockquote> + <hr class="short" /> + + <p>The experience which has now been obtained in National and + other Factories making munitions of war has demonstrated that + the post of Welfare Supervisor is a valuable asset to Factory + management wherever women are employed. Through this channel + attention has been drawn to conditions of work, previously + unnoted, which were inimical to the well-being of those + employed. The following notes have, therefore, been prepared + for the information of employers who have not hitherto engaged + such officers, but who desire to know the position a Welfare + Supervisor <span class="pagenum"><a name="page143" + id="page143"></a>[pg 143]</span> should take and the duties + and authority which, it is suggested, might be delegated to + her.</p> + + <h3>POSITION.</h3> + + <p>It has generally been found convenient that the Welfare + Supervisor should be directly responsible to the General + Manager, and should be given a definite position on the + managerial staff in connection with the Labour Employment + Department of the Factory. She is thus able to refer all + matters calling for attention direct to the General Manager, + and may be regarded by him as a liaison between him and the + various Departments dealing with the women employees.</p> + + <h3>DUTIES.</h3> + + <p>The duty of a Welfare Supervisor is to obtain and to + maintain a healthy staff of workers and to help in maintaining + satisfactory conditions for the work.</p> + + <p>In order to obtain a staff satisfactory both from the point + of view of health and technical efficiency, it has been found + to be an advantage <span class="pagenum"><a name="page144" + id="page144"></a>[pg 144]</span> to bring the Welfare + Supervisor into the business of selecting women and girls + for employment.</p> + + <h4>I. THE OBTAINING OF A HEALTHY STAFF.</h4> + + <p>Her function is to consider the general health, physical + capacity and character of each applicant. As regards those + under 16 years of age, she could obtain useful advice as to + health from the Certifying Surgeon when he grants Certificates + of fitness. The Management can, if they think fit, empower her + to refer for medical advice to their panel Doctor, other + applicants concerning whose general fitness she is in doubt. + This selection of employees furnishes the Welfare Supervisor + with a valuable opportunity for establishing a personal link + with the workers.</p> + + <p>Her function is thus concerned with selection on general + grounds, while the actual engaging of those selected may be + carried out by the Overlooker or other person responsible for + the technical side of the work. In this way both aspects of + appointment receive full consideration.</p> + + <p>The Management may find further that it is + <span class="pagenum"><a name="page145" + id="page145"></a>[pg 145]</span> useful to consult the + Welfare Supervisor as to promotions of women in the Factory, + thus continuing the principle of regarding not only + technical efficiency but also general considerations in the + control of the women in the Factory.</p> + + <h4>II. THE MAINTAINING OF A HEALTHY STAFF.</h4> + + <p>The Welfare Supervisor should ascertain what are the + particular needs of the workers. These needs will then be found + to group themselves under two headings:</p> + + <blockquote> + <p>(<i>a</i>) Needs within the Factory—Intramural + Welfare.</p> + + <p>(<i>b</i>) Needs outside the Factory—Extramural + Welfare.</p> + </blockquote> + + <h3>INTRAMURAL WELFARE.</h3> + + <h4>I. SUPERVISION OF WORKING CONDITIONS.</h4> + + <p>The Welfare Supervisor may be made responsible for the + following matters:</p> + + <blockquote> + <p>(<i>a</i>) <i>General behaviour of women and girls + inside the factory.</i>—While responsibility for the + <span class="pagenum"><a name="page146" + id="page146"></a>[pg 146]</span> technical side of the + work must rest with the Technical Staff, the Welfare + Supervisor should be responsible for all questions of + general behaviour.</p> + + <p>(<i>b</i>) <i>Transfer.</i>—The Welfare Supervisor + would, if the health of a woman was affected by the + particular process on which she is engaged, be allowed, + after having consulted the Foreman concerned, to suggest to + the Management the possibility of transfer of the woman to + work more suited to her state of health.</p> + + <p>(<i>c</i>) <i>Night Supervision.</i>—The Welfare + Supervisor should have a deputy for night work and should + herself occasionally visit the Factory at night to see that + satisfactory conditions are maintained.</p> + + <p>(<i>d</i>) <i>Dismissal.</i>—It will be in keeping + with the general suggestions as to the functions of the + Welfare Supervisor if she is consulted on general grounds + with regard to the dismissal of women and girls.</p> + + <p>(<i>e</i>) <i>The maintenance of healthy + conditions.</i>—This + <span class="pagenum"><a name="page147" + id="page147"></a>[pg 147]</span> implies that she + should, from the point of view of the health of the + female employees, see to the general cleanliness, + ventilation and warmth of the Factory and keep the + Management informed of the results of her + observations.</p> + + <p>(<i>f</i>) <i>The provision of seats.</i>—She + should study working conditions so as to be able to bring + to the notice of the Management the necessity for the + provision of seats where these are possible.</p> + </blockquote> + + <h4>II. CANTEEN.</h4> + + <p>Unless the Factory is a small one it would hardly be + possible for the Welfare Supervisor to manage the canteen. The + Management will probably prefer to entrust the matter to an + expert who should satisfy the Management in consultation with + the Welfare Supervisor on the following matters:—</p> + + <blockquote> + <p>(1) That the Canteen provides all the necessary + facilities for the women workers; that + <span class="pagenum"><a name="page148" + id="page148"></a>[pg 148]</span> is to say, suitable + food, rapidly and punctually served.</p> + + <p>(2) That Canteen facilities are provided when necessary + for the women before they begin work so that no one need + start work without having taken food.</p> + + <p>(3) That the Canteen is as restful and as comfortable as + possible so that it serves a double purpose of providing + rest as well as food.</p> + </blockquote> + + <h4>III. SUPERVISION OF AMBULANCE RESTROOM AND FIRST AID.</h4> + + <p>While not responsible for actually attending to accidents, + except in small Factories, the Welfare Supervisor should work + in close touch with the Factory Doctor and Nurses. She should, + however, be responsible for the following matters:—</p> + + <blockquote> + <p>(1) She should help in the selection of the Nurses, who + should be recognised as belonging to the Welfare staff.</p> + + <p>(2) While not interfering with the Nurses + <span class="pagenum"><a name="page149" + id="page149"></a>[pg 149]</span> in the professional + discharge of their duties, she should see that their + work is carried out promptly and that the workers are + not kept waiting long before they receive attention.</p> + + <p>(3) She should supervise the keeping of all records of + accident and illness in the Ambulance Room.</p> + + <p>(4) She should keep in touch with all cases of serious + accident or illness.</p> + </blockquote> + + <p>It would further be useful if she were allowed to be kept in + touch with the Compensation Department inside the Factory with + a view to advising on any cases of hardship that may arise.</p> + + <h4>IV. SUPERVISION OF CLOAK-ROOMS AND SANITARY + CONVENIENCES.</h4> + + <p>The Welfare Supervisor should be held responsible for the + following matters:—</p> + + <blockquote> + <p>(1) General cleanliness.</p> + + <p>(2) Prevention of Loitering.</p> + + <p>(3) Prevention of Pilfering.</p> + </blockquote> + + <p>The Management will decide what staff is necessary + <span class="pagenum"><a name="page150" + id="page150"></a>[pg 150]</span> to assist her, and it + should be her duty to report to the Management on these + matters.</p> + + <h4>V. PROVISION OF OVERALLS.</h4> + + <p>The Welfare Supervisor should have the duty of supervising + the Protective Clothing supplied to the women for their + work.</p> + + <h3>EXTRAMURAL WELFARE.</h3> + + <p>The Welfare Supervisor should keep in touch with all outside + agencies responsible for:—</p> + + <blockquote> + <p>(1) Housing.</p> + + <p>(2) Transit facilities.</p> + + <p>(3) Sickness and Maternity cases.</p> + + <p>(4) Recreation.</p> + + <p>(5) Day Nurseries.</p> + </blockquote> + + <p>In communicating with any of these agencies it will no doubt + be preferable that she should do so through the Management.</p> + + <h4>III. RECORDS.</h4> + + <p><i>A</i>. The Welfare Supervisor should for the purpose of + her work have some personal records of + <span class="pagenum"><a name="page151" + id="page151"></a>[pg 151]</span> every woman employee. If a + card-index system is adopted, a sample card suggesting the + necessary particulars which it is desirable should be kept + by Welfare Supervisors is supplied to employers on + request.</p> + + <p><i>B</i>. The Welfare Supervisor should have some way of + observing the health in relation to the efficiency of the + workers, and if the Management approved this could be done:</p> + + <blockquote> + <p>(<i>a</i>) By allowing her to keep in touch with the + Wages Department. She could then watch the rise and fall of + wages earned by individual employees from the point of view + that a steady fall in earnings may be the first indication + of an impending breakdown in health.</p> + + <p>(<i>b</i>) By allowing her to keep in touch with the + Time Office she should be able to obtain records of all + reasons for lost time. From such records information can be + obtained of sickness, inadequate transit and urgent + domestic duties, which might otherwise not be discovered. + Here again, if a card-index system + <span class="pagenum"><a name="page152" + id="page152"></a>[pg 152]</span> is adopted a sample + card for this purpose can be obtained from the Welfare + and Health Section on request.</p> + + <p>(<i>c</i>) By keeping records of all cases of accident + and sickness occurring in the Factory. Sample Ambulance + Books and Accident Record Cards can also be obtained from + the Welfare and Health Section.</p> + </blockquote><span class="pagenum"><a name="page153" + id="page153"></a>[pg 153]</span> + + <h3>CHAPTER VIII</h3> + + <h2>"THE WOMEN'S LAND ARMY"</h2> + + <blockquote> + <p>"If it were not for the women, agriculture would be at + an absolute standstill on many farms in England and Wales + today."</p> + </blockquote> + + <p class="author">—<i>President of the Board of + Agriculture.</i></p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page155" + id="page155"></a>[pg 155]</span> + + <p>The Land Army of Women, which now numbers over 258,300 whole + and part-time workers, has done splendid work. For some years + before the war women had been very little used on the land in + certain parts of England and Wales. In Scotland and in some of + the English counties there had always been, and still were, + quite fair numbers of women on the land.</p> + + <p>Within eighteen months of the outbreak of war, about 300,000 + agricultural laborers had enlisted and the work had been + carried on with difficulty by the farmer in the first year of + the war. The farmer secured all the labor he could, old men + returned to help, and the army released skilled men + temporarily, from training, to help. Soldiers were used in + groups for seasonal work, the farmer paying a good rate for + them. Groups of women were also organized for seasonal work + <span class="pagenum"><a name="page156" + id="page156"></a>[pg 156]</span> by various voluntary + organizations, two of these being the Land Council and the + Women's National Land Service Corps. The Women's Farm and + Garden Union also did good work. The Land Service Corps made + one of its most important objects the organization of + village women into working gangs under leaders. One + interesting piece of work undertaken by the Corps last year + was finding a large number of women for flax-pulling in + Somerset. This the Flax-Growers' Association asked them to + do as sufficient local labor could not be raised. The War + Agricultural Committee made all the local arrangements. This + was pioneer work of great value and importance as flax is + essential in the making of aeroplane wings.</p> + + <p>The Corps sent a group of 100 women under competent gang + leaders. The workers were housed in an empty country house and + the War Office provided bedding. The Y.W.C.A. undertook the + catering at the request of the Corps. The work, which was a + great success, consisted in + <span class="pagenum"><a name="page157" + id="page157"></a>[pg 157]</span> pulling, gating, wind + mowing, stocking and tying flax.</p> + + <p>The Corps has already been asked to undertake this again + next year. Owing to the Russian troubles and the closing of the + Port of Riga, it will be necessary to put many more hundreds of + acres under cultivation and it is probable four or five times + as many women will be needed next year.</p> + + <p>Some of the Corps members are doing good work in Army + Remount Depots, working in the stables and exercising the + horses. One of the latest interesting developments of women's + work is in the care of sick horses, carried out in the Horse + Hospital in London.</p> + + <p>Within nine months of the outbreak of war, it was clear we + must secure help for the farmers, in order to enable them to do + their work. As the submarine menace developed, and the supply + of grain in the world was affected by the numbers of men taken + away from production, it was clear we must try to grow more + food.</p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page158" + id="page158"></a>[pg 158]</span> + + <p>Our grain production at the best was only twelve weeks of + our supply, and even to keep up to that seemed to be a + problem.</p> + + <p>It was clear that in agriculture, as in so many other + things, women must fill up the ranks, and in the first official + appeal of the Government for additional woman labor, the land + had an important place.</p> + + <p>Lord Selborne, President of the Board of Agriculture, drew + up a scheme for the organization of agriculture throughout the + country. It consisted of War Agricultural Committee set up in + each county who look after production, use of land, procuring + use of motor machinery, etc., and of Women's Agricultural + Committees. The latter undertake the organization of securing + women workers for the land, choosing them, and arranging for + training and placing out.</p> + + <p>The voluntary groups of women who have been working at the + problem in the war are now practically all merged in the Board + of Agriculture's organization. The Women's Branch of the Food + Production Department now controls and + <span class="pagenum"><a name="page159" + id="page159"></a>[pg 159]</span> arranged the whole work and + Miss Meriel Talbot is the able chief.</p> + + <p>The Women's Land Corps, like the other organizations, was + prepared to be merged in the new Land Army of the Board and to + cease to exist as a separate organization. Its members were + willing to become part of the new Land Army.</p> + + <p>The Board found there was a distinct need for a voluntary + association which would continue to enroll women, who could not + sign on for the duration of the war, and who were able to + forego the benefits of free training, outfit and travelling + given under the Government scheme. Over 100 members of the + Corps did enroll and the original Corps members do not require + to appear before the local Selection Committees nor to submit + references, which marks the Board's confidence in the + Corps.</p> + + <p>Many of the Corps Workers are now organizing Secretaries for + the Counties or Assistant Secretaries, or are travelling + Inspectors under the Board of + Agriculture.</p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page160" + id="page160"></a>[pg 160]</span> + + <p>The Corps still organizes the supply of temporary workers + for seasonal jobs such as potato dropping, hoeing, harvesting, + fruitpicking, potato and root lifting, etc., done by groups + under leaders. The work of organizing in the Counties is + carried out by the appointment of a woman as District + representative. She is responsible for a general supervision of + the work in all the villages in her district. Each village has + a woman to act as Registrar and her duty (with assistants, if + necessary) is to canvass all the village women and girls for + volunteers for whole and part time work, and for training, and + to canvass the farmer to find out what labour he needs, and in + the beginning they had to induce him to use women. She puts the + farmer and the women suitable for his needs in her own + district, in touch with each other, and passes to the District + Representative and to the Employment Exchanges the names of all + women qualified to help and not placed, and of those willing to + train.</p> + + <p>All these committees, registrars and representatives are + honorary workers. The Board of + <span class="pagenum"><a name="page161" + id="page161"></a>[pg 161]</span> Agriculture appoints to + each County for work with the committee a woman Organizing + Secretary, and assistant also if necessary.</p> + + <p>The Board of Agriculture, working through the Employment + Exchanges and under the direction of their women heads, + arranged a series of meetings and work of propaganda by posters + and leaflets throughout the whole country early in 1916.</p> + + <p>The Representatives and Registrars organized the meetings to + which the farmers and the women were invited, and the whole + scheme was explained. These were very frequently held in the + market towns on market day and the farmer and his wife came in + to hear after the sales. We had to assail the prejudices of + some of our farmers pretty vigorously and of the women, too. We + found the women who volunteered best for land work were in the + class above the industrial worker, and that the comfortable and + well educated woman stood its work admirably.</p> + + <p>The farmers were stiff to move in some cases and especially + disliked the idea of having to train + <span class="pagenum"><a name="page162" + id="page162"></a>[pg 162]</span> the women. "They weren't + going to run after women all day—they had too much to + do to go messing round with girls!" This objection was met + by the Board of Agriculture arranging training centres in + every county. Some of the training was done at the Women's + Agricultural Colleges and among places that arranged + training very early were the Harper Adam's College in + Shropshire (Swanley); Garford (Leeds); Sparsholt + (Winchester); The Midland Agricultural Training College + (Kingston), and Aberystwith.</p> + + <p>The Women's Agricultural Committee have arranged a great + many training centres at big farms and on the Home farms of + some of our estates.</p> + + <p>The girls volunteering for training must be eighteen years + of age. They are interviewed as to suitability and references + by the Selection Committee. They must have a medical + certificate filled in by their own doctor or by one of the + committee's doctors.</p> + + <div class="figright" + style="width:30%;"> + <a href="images/plate172.jpg"><img width="100%" + src="images/plate172.jpg" + alt="BACK TO THE LAND: WOMEN TACKLE A STRONG MAN'S PROBLEM" /> + </a>BACK TO THE LAND<br /> + WOMEN TACKLE A STRONG MAN'S PROBLEM + </div> + + <p>On being passed, they go to the training centre, the + travelling expenses being paid by the Board. + <span class="pagenum"><a name="page163" + id="page163"></a>[pg 163]</span> Outfit is free and the + uniform is a very sensible one of breeches, tunic, boots and + gaiters or puttees, and soft hat, breeches, etc., cut to + measure for each girl. Training and maintenance are free and + there is always an instructor on the farm in addition to the + farmer and his workers. The travelling to the post found, is + again paid by the Government, and if work is not found at + once, on completion of training, maintenance is paid till it + is.</p> + + <p>The training is generally of four to six weeks' duration and + in some cases longer, and over 7,000 women have been trained in + this way and placed.</p> + + <p>Appeals for land recruits were made in February, 1916, and + in January and April, 1917, when the Women's National Service + Department asked for 100,000 women.</p> + + <p>The Land Army women after three months' service receive an + official armlet—a green band with lion rampant in red and + a certificate of honour. The Land women are the only women who + receive an armlet—the munition girl wears a triangular + brass brooch with "On war + service."</p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page164" + id="page164"></a>[pg 164]</span> + + <p>To induce the conservative farmer to try the women, + exhibitions of farm work were arranged in different part of the + country with great success, and the girls showed they could + plough, and weed and hoe and milk and care for stock, and do + all the farm work, except the heaviest, extremely well.</p> + + <p>The War Office in its official memorandum of 1916 gives a + long list of the farm and garden work in which women are + successfully employed, and they have been particularly + successful in the care of stock.</p> + + <p>The farmer who used to declare he would never have a woman + and that they were no use, and who has them now, is always + quite pleased and generally cherishes a profound conviction + that the reason why his women are all right is because he has + the most exceptional ones in the country.</p> + + <p>Housing the worker and especially the groups for seasonal + work has been a problem, but it has been done and the feeding + of groups well has been managed, too.</p> + + <p>The housing conditions for the girl going to + <span class="pagenum"><a name="page165" + id="page165"></a>[pg 165]</span> work whole-time are + investigated by the Board organizer, and the representatives + of committee. Very frequently a small group of girls have a + cottage on the farm.</p> + + <p>The Inspectors of the Board are in charge of three counties + each and look after all conditions.</p> + + <p>The girls are now being trained to drive the motor tractors + for ploughing, and for women who understand horses there is at + present a greater demand than supply.</p> + + <p>The Women's Branch of the Board is also at this time + appealing for well-educated women to aid in Timber Supply for + two pieces of work—measuring trees when felled, + calculating the amount of wood in the log, and marking off for + sawing, and as forewomen to superintend cross-cutting, felling + small timber and coppice and to do the lighter work of + forestry.</p> + + <p>Girls and women are in market gardens and on private gardens + in very large numbers. The King has a great many women in his + gardens and conservatories. Most estates are growing as many + vegetables as possible to supply the + <span class="pagenum"><a name="page166" + id="page166"></a>[pg 166]</span> many hospitals and the + Fleet, and girls are helping very much in this. A great deal + has been done by work in allotments, plots of land taken up + by town dwellers and cultivated. In one part of South Wales + alone 40,000 allotments have been worked and the allotment + holders are organizing themselves co-operatively for the + purchase of seed, etc. We have Governmental powers now not + only to enable Local Authorities to secure unused land for + allotments, but to compel farmers to cultivate all their + ground. We have fixed a price for wheat for five years, and + a minimum wage for the agricultural man and woman.</p> + + <p>The girls on the land improve in health and increase in + weight. The work is not only of supreme usefulness to the + country—we have the submarine ceaselessly gnawing at our + shipping and making our burden heavier—so we must produce + everything possible. It has improved the physique of our + girls—they like it, and many will permanently adopt it. + Our Board of Agriculture is also encouraging, for the benefit + of <span class="pagenum"><a name="page167" + id="page167"></a>[pg 167]</span> the country woman, the + formation of Women's Institutes, like those in Canada and + America.</p> + + <p>In the Lord Mayor's Procession in London, on November 9, + 1917, with the men-in-arms of all our great Commonwealth of + Nations, with the Turks and the captured German aeroplanes and + guns, the munition girls and the Land girls marched. No group + in all that great array had a warmer welcome from our vast + crowds than our sensibly clothed, healthy, happy and supremely + useful Land girls.</p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page169" + id="page169"></a>[pg 169]</span> + + <h3>CHAPTER IX</h3> + + <h2>WAR SAVINGS—THE MONEY BEHIND THE GUNS</h2> + + <blockquote> + <p>"You cannot have absolute equality of sacrifice in a + war. That is impossible. But you can have equal readiness + to sacrifice from all. There are hundreds of thousands who + have given their lives, there are millions who have given + up comfortable homes and exchanged them for a daily + communion with death. Multitudes have given up those whom + they loved best. Let the nation as a whole place its + comforts, its luxuries, its indulgences, its elegances, on + a national altar, consecrated by such sacrifices as these + men have made."</p> + </blockquote> + + <p class="author">—THE PRIME MINISTER.</p> + + <blockquote> + <p>"Deep down in the heart of every one of us there is the + spirit of love for our native land, dulled it may be in + some cases, perhaps temporarily obscured, by hardship, + injustice and suffering, but it is there and it remains for + us to touch the chord which will bring it to life; once + aroused it will prove irresistible."</p> + </blockquote> + + <p class="author">—Sir R.M. KINDERSLEY, + K.B.E.</p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page171" + id="page171"></a>[pg 171]</span> + + <p>To win the war, we must save. There is no task more + imperative, no need more urgent, and there is no greater work + than the work of educating the peoples of our countries, and + inducing them to save and lend to their Governments.</p> + + <p>The first Government Committee set up in Britain to do + propaganda work for war loans was established shortly after the + war under the title of the "Parliamentary War Savings + Committee." It did some propaganda for the early war loans. At + the same time a very interesting group of people associated + with the "Round Table," and including in it many of our most + able financiers and economists—such men as the future + chairman of the National War Savings Committee, Sir Robert M. + Kindersley, K.B.E.; C.J. Stewart, the Public Trustee; Hartley + <span class="pagenum"><a name="page172" + id="page172"></a>[pg 172]</span> Withers, Lord Sumner, T.L. + Gilmour, Theodore Chambers (now Controller of the National + War Savings Committee), Evan Hughes (now + Organizer-in-Chief), Lieut. J.H. Curle, Countess Ferrers, + Basil Blackett, C.B.; William Schooling and Mrs. Minty, Hon. + Sec. Excellent articles were written, leaflets published and + meetings held at which many of us spoke throughout the + country, and valuable work was done towards educating groups + of useful people in the country.</p> + + <p>In 1915 a committee was appointed by the House of Commons to + go into the whole question of Loans and Methods. The committee + was presided over by Mr. E.S. Montagu, and its findings were of + great interest. It advised the immediate setting up of a + committee whose task it would be to create machinery by which + the small investor might be assisted to invest in State + Securities, and secondly, to educate the country as a whole on + the imperative need of economy. The Lords Commissioners of His + Majesty's Treasury set up the National War Savings Committee in + March, 1916, and in April, 1917, it became a Government + <span class="pagenum"><a name="page173" + id="page173"></a>[pg 173]</span> Department. The first + chairman was George Barnes, Esq., M.P., but very soon the + chairmanship was taken by Sir Robert Kindersley, a director + of the Bank of England, who has spent himself unceasingly in + his great task.</p> + + <p>The committee started its work with a very small staff, Mr. + Schooling being one of the original half-dozen in it, and the + schemes and methods of work were evolved. It works in its + organization by setting up committees. The County is the + biggest unit and the Hon. Secretary of the County works at + setting up Local Committees, which are established in towns + with under 20,000 of a population, and we put a group of + parishes together in rural districts under one Local Committee. + All towns, cities and boroughs over 20,000 population are set + up by Headquarters and have Local Central Committees. There are + now in England and Wales over 1,580 of these committees. + Scotland is worked by a separate committee. Linked up to these + committees and represented on them, the War Savings + Associations work, and there are now altogether over 40,000 of + these with a weekly subscribing membership of over 7,000,000 + people.</p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page174" + id="page174"></a>[pg 174]</span> + + <div class="figcenter" + style="width:60%;"> + <a href="images/184.png"><img width="100%" + src="images/184.png" + alt="6 REASONS Why <u>YOU</u> Should Save" /> + </a>POSTER ISSUED BY NATIONAL WAR SAVINGS COMMITTEE + </div><span class="pagenum"><a name="page175" + id="page175"></a>[pg 175]</span> + + <p>The committees also did the propaganda work for the + January-February Loan of 1917, when five billion dollars was + raised (£1,000,000,000) and over eight million people (out of + our population of forty-five millions) subscribed to the + loan.</p> + + <p>The work of the committees was admirable at that time and + assisted materially in the success of the loan.</p> + + <p>The National War Savings Committee was also asked by Lord + Devonport in April to assist the Ministry of Food by doing, + through its committees, a great food-saving propaganda. This + request was made, because, it was explained, the War Savings + Committees are the best organized and most thoroughly + democratic Government organization in the country. This + propaganda was also done with marked success. In autumn of this + year the committees have done an extensive campaign of + education, and of work to + <span class="pagenum"><a name="page176" + id="page176"></a>[pg 176]</span> strengthen and enlarge + their associations, and also to push the sale of the new War + Bonds.</p> + + <p>The Treasury's policy now is to raise all the money needed + by the wisest borrowing from the people—day by day + borrowing.</p> + + <p>The entire work of the committees and associations is done + voluntarily—nothing is paid in the whole country for the + work, and the only charge is Headquarters Staff and propaganda + expenses. The County Secretaries are in most cases Board of + Education Inspectors whom the Board has generously allowed to + help.</p> + + <p>The War Saving Association is the body that sells the War + Savings Certificates, which are very much like the American + ones. These are also sold at all Post Offices and Banks. They + cost 15/6 each, and in five years from date of purchase are + worth £1. The interest in the fifth year is at the rate of + £5.4.7 per cent. The interest begins at the end of the first + year and the certificates can be cashed at any time at the Post + Office with interest to the date of cashing. The War Savings + Certificate has the additional + <span class="pagenum"><a name="page177" + id="page177"></a>[pg 177]</span> advantage that its interest + is free of income tax, and in a country where income tax + begins above £120 ($600), and is then at rate of 2/3 in £1 + (over 10 per cent) on earned income and 3/. on unearned, its + advantage is very clear. The interest does not need to be + included in income returns—but no one may buy more + than 500 certificates. It is a specially good paying + security intended only for the small saver.</p> + + <p>The War Savings Associations can be set up by any group of + people, ten or upwards, who wish to save co-operatively. They + must establish a committee, small or large. They must appoint a + Secretary and Treasurer and then apply for recognition to their + Local Committee, or if there is not one, to the National + Committee. They are given an affiliation certificate by their + committee and receive free all the books, papers, etc., + necessary for carrying on an association. These are all + supplied by the National Committee to Local Committees.</p> + + <p>The 40,000 Associations are in the Army, Navy, Munition + Works, Government establishments, + <span class="pagenum"><a name="page178" + id="page178"></a>[pg 178]</span> Railways, Banks, Mines, + Churches, Shops, social groups, clubs, men's and women's + organizations and 10,000 are in the schools. The schools, + where we receive subscriptions down to 2 cents have done + wonderful work and the teachers have done a great deal to + make our movement what it is. We find the children do the + best propaganda in the homes. One teacher, after explaining + to his children what it all meant in the morning, in the + afternoon had dozens of subscriptions, and among them a + sovereign which had been clasped tightly in a hot little + hand for a mile and a half's walk. The little boy said, "I + told Mother about it and she gave me that for fighting the + Germans."</p> + + <p>Our Associations have unearthed piles of gold, one village + association alone getting in £750 in gold ($3,750). Old + stockings have come out and one agricultural laborer brought + nine sovereigns to one of our Secretaries one night, and asked + her to invest it to help the soldiers. She said, "Why did you + bring it to me?" and he said, "Because its secreter than the + Post Office." And <span class="pagenum"><a name="page179" + id="page179"></a>[pg 179]</span> the Association has the + advantage that all its affairs are confidential, and though + figures and amounts are known, no single detail need be.</p> + + <p>The schemes are two and apart from schools, the minimum + weekly subscription is 12 cents. There is a Bank Book scheme + and a Stamp scheme in which the member holds a card which takes + thirty-one 12-cent stamps, and when filled up is handed in to + the Secretary and a War Savings Certificate is received.</p> + + <p>The financial advantage to the members of forming an + Association is quite easy to understand. Every week the takings + are invested by the Secretary (using a special slip given by + the National Committee) in War Savings Certificates, so that + when members finish subscribing for a certificate, instead of + getting one dated the day they finished paying for it, as it + would be if they saved by themselves, the Secretary has a store + of earlier dated certificates on hand, and the member receives + one of these.</p> + + <p>This works out quite fairly if one rule is + observed—never give any one a Certificate dated + <span class="pagenum"><a name="page180" + id="page180"></a>[pg 180]</span> earlier than the first week + they started paying for it.</p> + + <p>The people of England needed a great deal of education in + war saving. We had to fight the strongly held conviction that + of all sins the most despicable is "meanness," and that too + much saving may seem mean.</p> + + <p>No Englishman will ever really admit he has any money, and + he was inclined to question your right to talk about the + possibility of his having some—and your right to tell him + what to do with it, supposing he had any. Some of them were a + little suspicious that it was the workers we were talking to + most—it was not—and some of them were not quite + sure they wanted their employers to know how much they saved. + That is entirely obviated by the men running their own + associations. Other people told you the people in their + District never did, could, or would save and were spending + their big wages in the most extravagant way—that pianos + and fur coats appealed far more than war savings certificates. + The official people in the towns + <span class="pagenum"><a name="page181" + id="page181"></a>[pg 181]</span> when we approached them + about conferences said much the same in some cases, but, + yes, of course, you could come and have a conference and the + Mayor would preside and you could try. And you did, and in + six months they had dozens of associations and thousands of + members and had sold some thousands of certificates. We sell + about one and a half million certificates a week and have + sold about 140 millions since March, 1916. The appeal that + won them was not only the practical appeal of the value of + the money after the war for themselves, to buy a house, to + provide for old age, to educate the children. The strongest + appeal was the patriotic one. Save your money to save your + country. Throw your silver bullets at the enemy. We have not + been content to say only "save," we have tried to educate + our people on finance and economics. We have tried to show + them that no country can go on in a struggle like this + unless it conserves its resources—not even the richest + countries. We have tried to appeal to the spirit behind all + these things <span class="pagenum"><a name="page182" + id="page182"></a>[pg 182]</span> and our Chairman in one of + his admirable speeches said:</p> + + <p>"It is upon these simple human feelings of loyalty, + comradeship and patriotism that the great War Savings Movement + is founded. Because of the strength of this foundation I feel + convinced that we shall succeed in the great national work we + are setting out to perform. However difficult our task may + prove, however serious the times ahead, this spirit will carry + us safely and triumphantly through everything, and in the end + we shall find ourselves not weakened but strengthened on + account of these same difficulties which we shall most surely + overcome."</p> + + <p>The problem before us is the problem of finding ten times + the amount of money we did before the war for National + purposes. We are spending over $30,000,000 a day. By our + taxations, which includes an 80 per cent tax on excess profits, + we are raising over 25 per cent of our total expenditure. We + have met some other part of our expenditure in the three years + of war by using our gold reserve very heavily; a great deal + <span class="pagenum"><a name="page183" + id="page183"></a>[pg 183]</span> of it in payments in + America, where you now possess more than a third of the gold + of the entire world. We have also used a portion of our + securities, our capital wealth and past savings, and we have + had to borrow heavily. Our National Debt is now + £4,000,000,000. It was £700,000,000 at the outbreak of war. + £1,000,000,000 has been lent to our Allies and the + Dominions.</p> + + <p>Numbers of people have an impression that Governments can + find money. They can, to a certain extent, but only in a very + limited way, without great harm. There is in this creation an + addition to the buying power of the community, but if everybody + goes on spending no addition to the productive power, so it + only creates high prices and hardship. The inflation of + currency caused by it is a risk and an evil. The sound way is + to get the money by taxation, from resources and in real + voluntary loans.</p> + + <p>America's burden is very much the same as our own, and the + need here also of voluntary saving and lending to the extent of + more than <span class="pagenum"><a name="page184" + id="page184"></a>[pg 184]</span> half the expenditure is + clear. America, like ourselves, is very wisely trying to + democratise its war loans. Nothing is wiser or sounder or + more calculated to make progress, and the changes after the + war which will come, sound and steady than widely-spread, + democratically-subscribed loans. These vast debts will have + to be paid by the ability, productiveness and work of all, + so it is in the highest degree desirable that the money and + interest to be paid back should go out to every class of the + community—and not only to small sections. It is well + to remember, too, that the country that goes to the peace + table financially sound is in a position to make better + terms.</p> + + <div class="figright" + style="width:30%;"> + <a href="images/plate195.jpg"><img width="100%" + src="images/plate195.jpg" + alt="ONE OF THE POSTERS RECENTLY ISSUED BY THE NATIONAL WAR SAVINGS COMMITTEE" /> + </a>ONE OF THE POSTERS RECENTLY ISSUED BY THE NATIONAL WAR + SAVINGS COMMITTEE + </div> + + <p>But the purely financial side of war savings is not the most + important one. We talk in terms of money but the reality is not + money but goods and services. The problem before our + Governments and the problem that cannot be left to our children + (though the debts incurred in securing the credits may be) is + the problem of finding every day over $30,000,000 worth of + <span class="pagenum"><a name="page185" + id="page185"></a>[pg 185]</span> material and labour for the + struggle. War savings among the people is not only essential + to secure the money needed—it is far more essential + from the point of view of securing the cutting down of the + consumption of goods and labour by our peoples.</p> + + <p>Economists in peace time argue over what is termed "luxury" + expenditure, the wasteful expenditure of peace. War expenditure + may be correctly termed wasteful to a very great extent, and no + country can carry both of these expenditures and remain + solvent. Luxury expenditure should be entirely eliminated and + the material and labour which was absorbed by it should go into + the war. If this could be done completely, little damage would + be done to the nation's economic position. The thing to be + clearly realized is that all the productive effort of the + nation is needed for three things—the carrying on of the + war—the production of necessaries and the manufacture of + goods for export. Every civilian who uses material and labour + unnecessarily makes these tasks harder and goes into the + markets <span class="pagenum"><a name="page186" + id="page186"></a>[pg 186]</span> as an unfair competitor of + the Government. Every man and woman who saves five dollars + and lends it to their country give their country what is far + more important than the five dollars. They transfer to the + Government the five dollars worth of material and labour + they could have used up if they had spent it on themselves + and that is its real value. This means the needful purchases + of the State are substituted for, instead of added to, the + purchases of the civilian.</p> + + <p>Further, the influence of economy in preventing undue + inflation of currency and consequent high prices should be + realized. A certain amount of high prices in war is inevitable + but if civilians buy extravagantly, competition becomes intense + and prices rise beyond all need. The supplies are + limited—in our case that is greatly added to by the + submarine menace—and the demands of the Government are + enormous. The competition between the Government and the people + grows more and more intense. Prices go still higher. The + Government pays more than it should and so do the people. + Higher wages are demanded + <span class="pagenum"><a name="page187" + id="page187"></a>[pg 187]</span> with consequent higher + prices, and so you get a vicious circle that gets more and + more dangerous. If the civilian will relieve this pressure + by demanding less, and cutting down his expenditure, prices + will become more reasonable and the cost of the war + less.</p> + + <p>The chief difficulty in time of war is to make people + realize the need of economy when they have, as our people have, + more money than ever before, when enormous sums of money pour + out ceaselessly to the people from the Government. They have to + realize the fundamental difference between peace prosperity and + war prosperity. Peace prosperity comes from the creation of + wealth. War prosperity comes from the dissipation of + wealth—the use of all resources—the pledging of + credits. It is just as if we, as individuals, to meet a + personal crisis, took all our personal savings and borrowed all + we could and proceeded to spend it. The wise man or woman will + save all of it they can and realize that every unnecessary + dollar spent helps the enemy. No civilian in a struggle of this + kind has any moral <span class="pagenum"><a name="page188" + id="page188"></a>[pg 188]</span> right to more than + necessary things. We want every man and woman to have all + they need for their efficiency. We would not say for one + moment that every one can save, and money spent on clothing + and feeding the children and keeping the home comfortable is + well spent, but nothing should be wasted.</p> + + <p>The standard in this matter should be set by the rich, on + whom rests the greatest responsibility, moral and social. It is + impossible to expect workers to save if they see luxury and + extravagance everywhere round them. One cannot too strongly say + that.</p> + + <p>The civilians who work hard to produce, who have done heavy + toil in munitions and industry, and receive good wages and then + go out and spend it lavishly might just as well have slacked at + their work. The ultimate effect is the same. They have undone + the good they did. It is as if soldiers having won a trench let + the Germans come back into it.</p> + + <p>People of small means often feel that all they can save is + so small that it cannot really help + <span class="pagenum"><a name="page189" + id="page189"></a>[pg 189]</span> and wonder if the effort to + save is worth while, but if every person in America saved 2 + cents a day, it would amount to $730,000,000 in a year, and + that would find a great deal of munitions.</p> + + <p>Finding the money by saving finds everything, releases men + for the army, finds labour and money for munitions, finds + labour for ships and relieves the demands on tonnage, finds + supplies. It is the fundamental service of the civilian, and no + good citizen wants luxuries while soldiers and sailors need + clothes and guns and ships and munitions.</p> + + <p>Everybody, man, woman, and child, can join the great + financial army and march behind our men, and women have done + with us and can do everywhere a great work in this. Women are + on our National Committee and doing a great deal of its + organization. Our men in the trenches, in the air, at sea, + endure for us what we would have said before the war was + humanly unendurable. They pay for our freedom with a great + price—and we send them out to pay it—in death, + disablement, suffering and sacrifice. + <span class="pagenum"><a name="page190" + id="page190"></a>[pg 190]</span> To fail in our duty behind + them would be the great betrayal.</p> + + <p>Our treasures are very small things compared with our men. + Shall we give them and not our + money?</p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page191" + id="page191"></a>[pg 191]</span> + + <table summary="bookmark"> + <tr> + <td width="40%"> + <div class="figure" + style="width:50%;"> + <a href="images/202-1.png"><img width="100%" + src="images/202-1.png" + alt="REVERSE OF BEFORE YOU SPEND" /> + </a>REVERSE OF BEFORE YOU SPEND + </div> + </td> + + <td width="40%"> + <div class="figure" + style="width:50%;"> + <a href="images/202-2.png"><img width="100%" + src="images/202-2.png" + alt="BEFORE YOU SPEND" /></a> + </div> + </td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td colspan="2" align="center">A BOOKMARK, ISSUED BY N.W.S.C.</td> + </tr> + </table><span class="pagenum"><a name="page192" + id="page192"></a>[pg 192]</span> + + <table summary="another bookmark"> + <tr> + <td> + <div class="figure" + style="width:50%;"> + <a href="images/203-1.png"><img width="100%" + src="images/203-1.png" + alt="THINK BEFORE YOU SPEND" /></a>THINK + BEFORE YOU SPEND + </div> + </td> + + <td> + <div class="figure" + style="width:50%;"> + <a href="images/203-2.png"><img width="100%" + src="images/203-2.png" + alt="REVERSE OF HOW 15/6" /></a>REVERSE OF + HOW 15/6 + </div> + </td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td colspan="2" align="center">ANOTHER BOOKMARK</td> + </tr> + </table><span class="pagenum"><a name="page193" + id="page193"></a>[pg 193]</span> + + <h3>CHAPTER X</h3> + + <h2>FOOD PRODUCTION AND CONSERVATION</h2> + + <blockquote> + <p>"The whole country ought to realise that we are a + beleaguered city."</p> + </blockquote> + + <p class="author">—<i>The President of the Board of + Agriculture.</i></p> + + <blockquote> + <p>"If you have any belief in the cause for which thousands + of your fellow-countrymen have laid down their lives, you + will scrape and scrape and scrape, you will go in old + clothes, and old boots, and old ties until such a mass of + treasure be garnered into the coffers of the Government as + to secure at the end of all this tangle of misery a real + and lasting settlement for Europe."</p> + </blockquote> + + <p class="author">—<i>The President of the Board of + Education.</i></p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page195" + id="page195"></a>[pg 195]</span> + + <p>In this great struggle the food question assumes greater and + greater importance.</p> + + <p>The production of food has been affected by the raising of + great armies—more than twenty million men are in arms in + Europe—by the feeding of armies, for which we must, of + necessity, provide food in excess of what these men would need + in civil life. The ability to get the food has been made + difficult for us by the submarine warfare. Thousands of tons of + wheat lie in Australia, but we cannot afford ships to bring it. + Tea has been very short in England, though again there are + thousands of tons waiting in India. The most urgent need of the + Allies is for ships and more ships. There has been great loss + of tonnage and the needs of the Army and Navy absorb the + service of vast numbers of the available ships. We have moved + 13,000,000 men since <span class="pagenum"><a name="page196" + id="page196"></a>[pg 196]</span> war broke out, and the + supplies and munitions they have needed, to our many fronts. + Ceaselessly we move the wounded. We have to bring into + Britain half our food. That we have done this, has been due + to the British Navy and the Reserves—the patrols and + the mine sweepers—the Fringes of the Fleet—and + not least, the merchant seaman. About 6,000 merchantmen have + been killed by the enemy, some with diabolical cruelty. + These men are torpedoed and come into port, and go for + another ship at once. On the ship on which I crossed there + were seamen who had been torpedoed three times In its + submarine warfare the enemy has broken every international + and human law—has used "frightfulness" to its fullest + extent, and the answer of our merchant seamen is to go to + sea again as soon as the ship is ready, and the older men, + who had retired, return to sea. The seaman of our country + know the enemy. It was our Seamen's Union that refused to + carry the Peace Delegates to Stockholm, and it is they and + our fishermen who, in the Reserves, man the patrols and mine + sweepers, <span class="pagenum"><a name="page197" + id="page197"></a>[pg 197]</span> and who, on our little + drifters and trawlers, have fought the enemy's big + destroyers—fought till they went down, refusing to + surrender.</p> + + <p>It is not strange that the best-liked poster in our Food + Crusade, and the one people want everywhere, is a simple + drawing of a merchant seaman, and under it the words, "We risk + our lives to bring you food. It is up to you not to waste + it."</p> + + <p>The countries that can succeed best in solving the food + question are the countries that will win, and the food problem + will not cease, any more than many others, when peace is + declared.</p> + + <p>Very early in the war, existing organizations, such as the + National Food Reform Association, and newly created ones, the + National Food Economy League and the Patriotic Food League of + Scotland, did a great deal of active work on food saving. They + aimed at instructing in the scientific principles of the + economical use of food, and issued admirable leaflets and + Handbooks for Housewives and Cookery Books. A series of + Exhibitions, often described as "Patriotic Housekeeping + <span class="pagenum"><a name="page198" + id="page198"></a>[pg 198]</span> Exhibitions" were held in + different parts of the country, organized generally by + women's societies. One of the early ones I organized in + Salisbury. Later, the Public Trustee was chairman of an + Official Committee, which organized large Exhibitions in + London and throughout the country. These Exhibitions had + stalls showing food values with specimens, had exhibits of + the most economical cooking stoves and arrangements, and + exhibited every manner of time and labour saving device. + They had wonderful exhibits of clothes for children made + from old clothes of grown-ups, of marvellous dresses and + little jerseys and caps and scarfs made from legs of old + stockings. There were charming dresses and underclothing + made of the very simplest materials and decorated + artistically with stitching and embroidery. These were made + by school girls of seven and upwards for themselves, and the + Glasgow School of Art's work, done in schools there, was + perfectly beautiful. The cost was shown and it was + incredibly small. All sorts of things for the household in + simple carpentry <span class="pagenum"><a name="page199" + id="page199"></a>[pg 199]</span> and upholstery, using up + boxes and wood, were shown, and old tins were converted into + all sorts of useful household things. Facts as to waste were + made as striking as possible by demonstration. Every + exhibition had a War Savings Stall and Certificates were + often sold at these in large numbers, the Queen buying the + first sold at the first London Exhibition.</p> + + <p>The great feature of the Exhibitions was Food Saving and + Conservation. Demonstrations in cooking and in hay-box cooking, + were given and these were attended by thousands of women, Miss + Petty, "The Pudding Lady," being a specially attractive + demonstrator. She was called "The Pudding Lady," first by + little children in London in the East End, where she used to go + into the homes, and show them how to cook on their own fires, + and with their own meagre possessions. When she came there was + pudding, so her title came as a result.</p> + + <p>We always included exhibits and posters on the care of the + babies and the children. Lectures + <span class="pagenum"><a name="page200" + id="page200"></a>[pg 200]</span> on vegetable and potato + growing, bee and poultry keeping, etc., were also given.</p> + + <p>There were competitions in connection with the + Exhibitions—prizes were offered for the best + cake—for the best war bread—for the best dinners + for a family at a small cost—for the best weekly budgets + of different small incomes—for the best blouse and dress + made at a small cost, etc., and these were extremely popular. + The prizes were generally War Savings Certificates or + labour-saving devices.</p> + + <p>From the Governmental point of view the Food work is in two + great divisions: Food Production, which is worked by the Food + Production Department of the Board of Agriculture, of which the + Women's Branch is doing the work of placing women on the land. + It not only works on the production of more food but it + organizes the conservation of food, such as fruit bottling, and + preserving fruit, and vegetable and fruit drying, etc.</p> + + <p>A very great deal has been done in demonstrating how to + conserve fruit and vegetables all + <span class="pagenum"><a name="page201" + id="page201"></a>[pg 201]</span> over the country and this + has been done to an extent hitherto quite unreached. + Co-operative work has been done and most interesting + experiments made. The glass bottles necessary have been + secured by the Department, and are sold by them to those + doing the conservation at a fixed price. Last summer the + Sugar Commission also arranged to sell sufficient sugar for + making preserves to those people who grow their own fruit. + This they succeeded in doing to a very large + extent—which was a most valuable conservation.</p> + + <p>The Ministry of Food is the other great body dealing with + all food problems of supply, price, regulations, and + propaganda.</p> + + <p>Lord Rhondda is our Food Controller. Our first Controller + was Lord Devonport. Food control is the most unpopular work in + any country and a Food Controller deserves the help, sympathy + and support of every good citizen. No Food Controller, no + matter how able, and no matter how great and comprehensive his + powers are, can do his work without the co-operation of the + people.</p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page202" + id="page202"></a>[pg 202]</span> + + <p>Lord Rhondda's powers are very great as to control of + supplier prices and regulations. The price of the four pound + loaf (and it must be four pounds) is fixed by our Government at + 18 cents and the loss is borne by the Government.</p> + + <p>The prices of meat, beans, cheese, tea, sugar, milk, and the + profits on other articles are regulated by the Ministry. When + Lord Devonport was Food Controller we had courses at lunch and + dinner limited—a policy most people felt to be stupid as + it meant a run on staple foods—and it was abandoned by + Lord Rhondda. We had meatless days, which also have been + stopped. We found it difficult to do, and impossible to + regulate. We had many potatoless days last spring—by + regulation in the restaurants—perforce by most of us in + towns where they were almost impossible to get, but this year + we have the biggest potato crop we have had.</p> + + <p>In restaurants and hotels now supplies are regulated. No one + can have more than two ounces of bread at any meal, and the + amount of flour and sugar supplied is strictly rationed to + <span class="pagenum"><a name="page203" + id="page203"></a>[pg 203]</span> the hotels, according to + the number served. Not more than five ounces of meat (before + cooking) can be served at any meal. These regulations are + strictly enforced, and the duty of seeing all the + regulations are carried out, and all the work done, devolves + upon the Local Food Control Committees which have been set + up all over the country under the Ministry, by the local + authorities. On every such Committee there must be women. + They fix prices for milk, etc., and initiate prosecutions + for infringements of the laws regulating food.</p> + + <p>No white flour is sold or used in Britain. The mills are all + controlled by the Government and all flour is now war grade, + which means it is made of about 70 per cent white flour and + other grains, rye, corn (which we call maize), barley, + rice-flour, etc., are added. We expect to mill potato flour + this year. Oatmeal has a fixed price, 9 cents a pound, in + Scotland, 10 cents in England. No fancy pastries, no icing on + cakes and no fancy bread may be made. Only two shapes of loaf + are allowed—the tin loaf and the Coburg. + <span class="pagenum"><a name="page204" + id="page204"></a>[pg 204]</span> Cakes must only have 15 per + cent sugar and 30 per cent war grade flour. Buns and scones + and biscuits have regulations as to making, also.</p> + + <p>Butter is very scarce and margarine supplies not always big + enough, and we have tea and sugar and margerine queues in our + big towns—women standing in long rows waiting. It is an + intolerable waste of time—and yet it seems difficult to + get it managed otherwise.</p> + + <p>The woman in the home in our country with high prices, want + of supplies, and her desire to economise has had a busy and + full time, but our people are quite well fed. Naturally enough, + considering the hard work we are all doing, our people are + really using more, not less food, but waste is being fought + very well.</p> + + <p>Waste is a punishable offence and if you throw away bread or + any good food, you will be proceeded against, as many have + been, and fined 40/- to £100. No bread must be sold that is not + twelve hours baked. New bread is extravagant in cutting and + people eat more. It is interesting to note that in one period + of the <span class="pagenum"><a name="page205" + id="page205"></a>[pg 205]</span> Napoleonic wars we did the + same thing and ate no new bread.</p> + + <p>Food hoarding is an offence and the food is commandeered and + the hoarder punished. Several people have been fined £50 and + upwards.</p> + + <p>The work of the Army in economizing food has been a great + work. Rations have been cut down and much more carefully dealt + with. The use of waste products has become a science. All the + fats are saved—even the fats in water used in washing + dishes are trapped and saved. The fats are used to make + glycerine, and last year the Army saved enough waste fat to + make glycerine for 18,000,000 shells. Fats and scraps for pigs, + and bones, etc., are all sold and one-third of the money goes + back to the men's messing funds to buy additional foods and + every camp tries to beat the other in its care and efficiency + and the women cooks are doing admirably in this work.</p> + + <p>Officers of the Navy and Army are only permitted to spend a + certain amount on meals in restaurants and hotels—3/6 for + lunch and 5/6 for dinner and 1/6 for + tea.</p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page206" + id="page206"></a>[pg 206]</span> + + <p>The other side of the Food Campaign is the propaganda and + educative work. Lord Rhondda has two women Co-Directors with + him—Mrs. C.S. Peel and Mrs. M. Pember Reeves—in the + Ministry of Food, and they help in the whole work and very + specially with the educational and propaganda work, and with + the work of communal feeding.</p> + + <p>A number of communal kitchens have been established with + great success—many being in London. At these thousands of + meals are prepared—soups and stews, fish, and meats, and + puddings, every variety of dishes, and the purchasers come to + the kitchens and bring plates and jugs to carry away the food. + Soups are sold from 2 to 4 cents for a jugful, and other things + in proportion. These are established under official + recognition, the Municipalities in most cases providing the + initial cost. The prices paid cover the cost of food and + cooking, and the service is practically all voluntary.</p> + + <p>The first propaganda work was, as I have said, done by the + War Savings Committees, and our + <span class="pagenum"><a name="page207" + id="page207"></a>[pg 207]</span> big task was to try to make + our people realize how undesirable it is to have to resort + to compulsory rationing. We are rationed on sugar and we do + not want to adopt more compulsory rationing than is + necessary. Compulsory rationing, in some people's minds, + seems to ensure supplies. It does not and where, under + voluntary rationing, people go round and find other food and + get along with the supplies there are, under compulsory + rationing there would always be a tendency to demand their + ration and to make trouble about the lack of any one + commodity in it.</p> + + <p>Compulsory rationing to be workable must be a simple scheme, + and no overhead ration of bread, for example, is just. The + needs of workers vary and so do the needs of individuals, and + bread is the staple food of our poorer classes. They have less + variety of foods and need more bread than the better-off + people. Compulsory rationing may have to come, but most of us + are determined it will not come till it is really unavoidable + and we are appealing to our people + <span class="pagenum"><a name="page208" + id="page208"></a>[pg 208]</span> to prevent that, and masses + of them are economizing and saving in a manner worthy of the + greatest praise.</p> + + <p>The rationing we appealed to our people to get down to, was + three pounds of flour per head in the week, 2½ lbs. of meat + and ½ lb. sugar.</p> + + <p>The King's Pledge, which we had signed by those willing to + do this, all over the country, pledged people to cut down their + consumption of grain by one-quarter in the household, and the + King's Proclamation urged this, and economies in grain and + horse feeding.</p> + + <p>An old Proclamation of the 18th century appealed to our + people to cut down their consumption of their grains by + one-third and was almost identical in form, and copies signed + by Edmund Burke and other famous people were shown in our + Thrift Exhibitions in Buckinghamshire.</p> + + <p>We arranged meetings for the maids of households in big + groups to explain the need and meaning of economy in food with + great success. Every head of a household knows that the maids + <span class="pagenum"><a name="page209" + id="page209"></a>[pg 209]</span> can make or mar one's + efforts to save food, and we have found many of ours + admirable, and willing to do wonders in the way of economy + and saving.</p> + + <p>If compulsory rationing in more than sugar comes as it may, + the basis of rationing will, we believe, be worked out with as + much consideration as possible of the needs of the workers.</p> + + <p>Our Co-operative movement is, in a simple way rationing its + buyers, by regulating supplies, and it is in voluntary work of + that kind, which is going on extensively, and in the people's + own efforts and economies that our great hope lies.</p> + + <p>The Ministry of Food arranges meetings and sends speakers to + associations and bodies of every kind. The schools are very + extensively used for demonstrations to which the parents are + invited. The children are talked to and write essays on food + and general saving and in these, one little girl of seven told + us, "If you don't throw away your crusts, you will beat the + Kaiser," and another small boy said, "Boys should give up + <span class="pagenum"><a name="page210" + id="page210"></a>[pg 210]</span> sliding for the war, as it + wears out their boots," and another said, "We should not go + to picture houses so much—once a week is quite often + enough." One little child who had been coached at school + returned home to see a baby sister of two throw away a big + crust and said, "If Lord Rhondda was here, wouldn't he give + you a row." So the root of the matter seems to be in the + youth of our country and the sweetness and willingness of + their sacrifices is very fragrant. They sing about saving + bread and saving pennies, and to hear a choir of Welsh + children sing these songs, with a vigour and enjoyment that + is infectious, is quite delightful.</p> + + <p>Most of our big girls' schools have given up buying sweets, + and when they get gifts of them send them to the prisoners and + the soldiers. We have, of course, restricted our manufacture of + sweets very much.</p> + + <p>Our school children have, in addition, worked enormous + numbers of school gardens and grown tons of potatoes and + vegetables.</p> + + <p>Our distilleries are taken over by the Government + <span class="pagenum"><a name="page211" + id="page211"></a>[pg 211]</span> for spirits for munitions + and our beer is cut down very greatly. Travelling kitchens + go out from the Ministry of Food also and do demonstrations + in villages and country districts on cooking and + conservation. The Ministry issues leaflets of recipes and + instructions in cooking and has a special Win the War + Cookery Book. Articles are also published on food values and + quite a number of people begin to understand something about + calories, even though they are rather vague about what it + all means.</p> + + <p>Naturally most of the Food speaking and work is done by + women though food control and saving is men's and women's + work.</p> + + <p>This year we saved grain by collecting the horse chestnuts, + a work that was done by the school children. These are crushed + and the oil used for munitions and it was reckoned we could + save tens of thousands of tons of grain by doing this.</p> + + <p>A wonderful work in the use of waste materials has been the + work of the Glove Waistcoat Society, to which American women + have kindly <span class="pagenum"><a name="page212" + id="page212"></a>[pg 212]</span> sent old gloves. Old gloves + are cleaned, the fingers are cut off, the other big pieces + stitched together and cut into waistcoats and backed by + linenette. These are sold to the soldiers and sailors for + wear under their tunics and are most beautifully light and + windproof. The fingers of kid gloves are made into glue, of + wash leather gloves into rubbers for household use. The big + pieces of linenette over are made into dust sheets and the + small scraps go to stuff mattresses for a Babies' Home. The + buttons are carded and sold and the making up provides work + for distressed elderly women. It needs no funds—it is + self-supporting—it only needs old gloves.</p> + + <p>In preventing waste and in food production and conservation, + our people have learned much, and a very great deal of + admirable work is being + done.</p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page213" + id="page213"></a>[pg 213]</span> + + <h3>CHAPTER XI</h3> + + <h2>THE WOMEN'S ARMY AUXILIARY CORPS</h2> + + <div class="poem"> + <div class="stanza"> + <p>"Now every signaller was a fine Waac,</p> + + <p>And a very fine Waac was she—e."</p> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <p class="i4">"Soldier and Sailor, too."</p> + </div> + </div><span class="pagenum"><a name="page215" + id="page215"></a>[pg 215]</span> + + <p>The Waacs is the name we all know them by and shall, it + seems, continue to. It will have to go into future dictionaries + beside Anzac.</p> + + <p>The deeds of the Anzacs in Gallipoli and France are + immortalised in many records—magnificently in John + Masefield's "Gallipoli"—an epic in its simplicity. The + work of the Waacs is the work of support and substitution and + its records only begin to be made.</p> + + <p>The Women's Army Auxiliary Corps is an official creation of + this year. At the Women's Service Demonstration in the Albert + Hall in January, 1917, Lord Derby asked for Women for clerical + service in the army and official appeals were issued in + February and repeatedly since that time, and now all over the + country we have Recruiting Committees organizing meetings + <span class="pagenum"><a name="page216" + id="page216"></a>[pg 216]</span> and securing recruits. They + are recruiting at the rate of 10,000 a month.</p> + + <p>The Waacs had many forerunners in some of our voluntary + organizations, in the Women's Reserve Ambulance, of "The Green + Cross Society," attached to the National Motor + Volunteers—the Women's Volunteer Reserve—the + Women's Legion—the Women's Auxiliary Force and the Women + Signallers Territorial Corps. The Women's Signallers Corps had + as Commandant-in-Chief Mrs. E.J. Parker—Lord Kitchener's + sister. They believed women should be trained in every branch + of signalling and that men could be released for the firing + line by women taking over signalling work at fixed stations. + Their prediction came true more than two years later, for today + they are in France. They drilled and trained the women in all + the branches of signalling semaphore—flags, mechanical + arms; and in Morse—flags, airline and cable, sounder + (telegraphy), buzzer, wireless, whistle, lamp and heliograph. + They also learned map reading—the most fascinating of + accomplishments. This <span class="pagenum"><a name="page217" + id="page217"></a>[pg 217]</span> Corps had the distinction + of introducing "wireless" for women in England in connection + with its Headquarters training school. When one of the Corps + later accepted a splendid appointment as wireless instructor + at a wireless telegraph college—the Corps was duly + elated.</p> + + <div class="figright" + style="width:35%;"> + <a href="images/plate228-1.jpg"><img width="100%" + src="images/plate228-1.jpg" + alt="W.A.A.Cs. ON THE MARCH" /></a>W.A.A.Cs. ON THE + MARCH + </div> + + <div class="figright" + style="width:30%;"> + <a href="images/plate228-2.jpg"><img width="100%" + src="images/plate228-2.jpg" + alt="WOMEN OF THE RESERVE AMBULANCE" /></a>WOMEN OF + THE RESERVE AMBULANCE + </div> + + <p>The Women's Reserve Ambulance had the distinction of being + the first ambulance on the scene in the first serious Zeppelin + Raid in London (September, 1915). They came to where the first + bombs fell, killing and wounding, and did the work of rescue, + and when another ambulance arrived later, "Thanks," said the + police, "the ladies have done this job."</p> + + <p>They worked assisting the War Hospital Supply Depots, that + wonderful organization run by Miss MacCaul, they provided + orderlies to serve the meals and act as housemaids, and make + the men welcome at Peel House, one of the Canadian Clubs. + Others helped in Hospitals, washing up and doing other + work.</p> + + <p>Others met and moved wounded—others at night took the + soldiers to the Y.M.C.A. huts. + <span class="pagenum"><a name="page218" + id="page218"></a>[pg 218]</span> The Women's Volunteer + Reserve, too, seemed to be everywhere doing all sorts of + useful, helpful things—disciplined, ready, and + trained. The Women's Legion led the way in providing cooks + and waitresses for camps and sent out 1,200 of these inside + a year. The first convalescent camp to have all its cooking + and serving done by women was managed—admirably, + too—by the Women's Legion, so the Waacs had many + voluntary forerunners, who are mostly in it and amalgamated + with it now.</p> + + <p>The Waacs are a part of the Army organization—are in + His Majesty's Forces and when a girl joins she is subject to + army rules and regulations. They are working now in large + numbers in England and in France, at all the base towns, and in + quiet places, where things that matter are planned and + initiated.</p> + + <p>The girl who goes to France knows she is going to possible + danger by being handed, before she goes, her two identification + discs.</p> + + <p>For France, no woman under twenty or over forty is eligible. + After volunteering, they are + <span class="pagenum"><a name="page219" + id="page219"></a>[pg 219]</span> chosen by Selection Boards + and medically examined. They receive a grant for their + uniforms. The workers wear a khaki coat-frock—a very + sensible garment—brown shoes and soft hat and a great + coat. At the end of a year they get a £5 ($25) bonus on + renewing their contracts, and they get a fortnight's leave + in a year.</p> + + <p>Their payment is not high—it works out about the same + as a soldier's when everything is paid—and that, with us, + is just over 25 cents a day, so the khaki girl, like the + soldier, does not work for the money.</p> + + <p>The whole organization is officered and directed by women. + Mrs. Chalmers Watson, M.D., C.B.E., is the Chief Controller, + with Miss MacQueen as Assistant Chief Controller. Under them + are the Controllers—Area, Recruiting, etc., and the + officer in charge of a unit is called an Administrator, and + under her are deputy administrators and + assistant-administrators. They are not given Military titles + and do not hold commissions, but their appointments are + gazetted in the ordinary way. There is always a strong feeling + <span class="pagenum"><a name="page220" + id="page220"></a>[pg 220]</span> in England that Military + and Naval titles should be strictly reserved.</p> + + <p>The equivalent of a sergeant is a "forewoman," and there are + quartermistresses in charge of stores. Rank is shown as among + the men, by badges, rose and fleur-de-lys.</p> + + <p>Administrators are being trained in large numbers. They have + a short course of drilling, learn to fill up Army forms, make + out pay sheets, how to requisition for rations, catering + generally, and how to run a hostel. They also attend practical + lectures on hygiene and sanitation. When this is done, they go + to camp for a fortnight's training under an administrator in + actual charge of a Unit. If they have not done well in this + course, they are not appointed.</p> + + <p>An administrator receives a $100 grant for her uniform and + is paid from $600 to $875 a year out of which $200 is deducted + for food. There is generally one officer to every fifty + women.</p> + + <p>The administrator must drill her girls. The W.A.A.C. is + proud of its tone and its discipline. Its officers make the + girls feel much is expected + <span class="pagenum"><a name="page221" + id="page221"></a>[pg 221]</span> of them, because of the + uniform they wear, and the girls have made a fine response. + There are very few rules and as little restraint as + possible. The girls are put on their honour when not under + supervision. The administrator has considerable disciplinary + powers, but they are very little needed.</p> + + <p>It does not seem to be by discipline that the officer + succeeds best. There is a nice story told of an Administrator + who had been away from her unit some days, returning and being + met at the station by one of the rank and file who had come for + her bag.</p> + + <p>"I <i>am</i> glad to see you, Ma'am," was the greeting, so + emphatic a one that the Administrator inquired nervously if + something were wrong.</p> + + <p>"Oh, no. Seems as if Mother had been away, Ma'am," explained + the girl.</p> + + <p>The Administrator can help her girls by sorting them out + well, putting friends and the same kind of girls together; it + makes so much difference.</p> + + <p>The Administrator has not only to handle her + <span class="pagenum"><a name="page222" + id="page222"></a>[pg 222]</span> own sex—she has to + deal with men officers and quartermasters, and she succeeds + in doing that well, too.</p> + + <p>Our Administrators are naturally women of education and + carefully chosen and there is plenty of opportunity of rising + "from the ranks."</p> + + <p>The girls cross over to France on the gray transports, are + received by the women Draft Receiving Officers, and go up the + lines to their assigned posts.</p> + + <p>The women are billeted in some of the base towns in pensions + and summer hotels that have been commandeered, in big houses + and in one case in a beautiful old Chateau where the ghosts of + dead-and-gone ladies of beauty and fashion must wonder what + kind of women these khaki clad girls are. The girls in these + make their rooms home-like with photographs, hangings, and + little personal belongings.</p> + + <p>The greater number of girls live in camps, and different + types of huts have been tried. Some of the camps are entirely + of wooden huts—large and roomy. Other camps have the + Nissen hut <span class="pagenum"><a name="page223" + id="page223"></a>[pg 223]</span> of corrugated iron, lined + with laths wood floored and raised from the ground. These + have been linked together in the cleverest way by covered + ways. In the sleeping huts the beds are iron bedsteads with + springs and horse-hair mattresses. Each bed has four + thoroughly good blankets and a pillow. No sheets are + given—there is no labour to wash the thousands of + sheets, and the cotton is needed. Each woman has a wooden + locker with a shelf above, and a chair. Washing and bathing + is done in separate huts, and in every camp hot and cold + water is laid on.</p> + + <p>The mess room is a big hut. The girls wait on themselves and + the food is excellent. They receive in rations the same as the + soldiers on lines of communication—four-fifths of a + fighting man's ration and whatever is over is returned and + credited, and the extra money is used for luxuries, games and + for entertaining visitors from other camps.</p> + + <p>Here is a typical week's meals and it shows how well they + are fed:</p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page224" + id="page224"></a>[pg 224]</span> + + <blockquote> + <p>MONDAY.—Breakfast: Tea, bread, butter, baked + mince, jam. Dinner: Cold beef, potatoes, tomatoes, baked + apples, custard. Tea: Tea, bread, butter, jam. Supper: + Welsh rarebit, bread, butter, jam.</p> + + <p>TUESDAY.—Breakfast: Tea, bread, butter, boiled + ham, marmalade. Dinner: brown onion stew, potatoes, baked + beans, biscuit pudding. Tea: Tea, bread, butter, jam, + cheese. Supper: Savoury rice, tea, bread.</p> + + <p>WEDNESDAY.—Breakfast: Tea, bread, butter, veal + loaf. Dinner: Roast mutton, potatoes, marrow, bread + pudding. Tea: Tea, bread, butter, marmalade, jam. Supper: + Rissoles, bread, butter, cheese.</p> + + <p>THURSDAY.—Breakfast: Tea, bread, butter, fried + bacon. Dinner: Meat pie, potatoes, cabbage, custard and + rice. Tea: Tea, bread, butter, jam. Supper: Soup, bread and + jam.</p> + + <p>FRIDAY.—Breakfast: Tea, bread, butter, rissoles, + marmalade. Dinner: Boiled beef, potatoes and onions, Dundee + roll. Tea: tea, bread, butter, jam, slab cake. Supper: + Shepherd's pie, tea, bread, butter.</p> + + <p>SATURDAY.—Breakfast: Tea, bread, butter, boiled + ham, jam. Dinner: Thick brown stew, potatoes + <span class="pagenum"><a name="page225" + id="page225"></a>[pg 225]</span> and cabbage, bread + pudding. Tea: Tea, bread, butter, jam, cheese. Supper: + Toad-in-hole, bread jam.</p> + + <p>SUNDAY.—Breakfast: Tea, bread, butter, fried + bacon. Dinner: Roast beef, potatoes and cabbage, stewed + fruit, custard. Tea: Tea, bread, butter, jam. Supper: Soup, + bread, butter, cheese.</p> + </blockquote> + + <p>They are divided into five big classes for work. There are + large numbers of them cooks and waitresses, and many of these + cooks come from the best private houses in England, so the + Waacs and the soldiers fare well. In one camp in the early days + sixty women cooks walked in and sixty men out, released for the + fighting lines. The saving in fats done by the women is very + great and their economies admirable and the women are + waitresses in the camps and messes.</p> + + <p>In one base in France when twenty-nine cooks came to take + charge in the early days the commanding officer issued an order + that expresses very well the spirit in which the women are + regarded.</p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page226" + id="page226"></a>[pg 226]</span> + + <h4>BASE DEPOT.</h4> + + <blockquote> + <p>The Officer Commanding Base Depot wishes to draw the + attention of all ranks to the following points in + connection with the Domestic Section of the Women's + Auxiliary Army, which is employed in this depot:</p> + + <p>These women have not come out for the sake of money, as + their pay is that of a private soldier. In nearly every + case they have lost someone dear to them in this war, and + they are out here to try to do their best to make things + more comfortable for the men in regard to their food.</p> + + <p>It, therefore, is up to all ranks to make their lot an + easy and not a hard one during their stay in France. If any + man should so forget himself as to use bad language or at + any time to be rude to them, it is up to any of his + comrades standing by to shut him up, and see that he does + not repeat this offence.</p> + + <p>To the older men I would say: Treat them as you would + your own daughters. To the younger men: Treat them as you + would your own sisters.</p> + </blockquote> + + <p class="author">——, Comdg., Base + Depot.</p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page227" + id="page227"></a>[pg 227]</span> + + <p>They are doing the clerical work more and more, and in a few + weeks have become so technical that they know where to send + requisitions concerning 9.2 guns or trench mortars or giant + howitzers. There is a favourite story told against an early + Waac that when a demand came for armoured hose, she sent it to + the clothing department, but she knows better now.</p> + + <p>French girls are also helping in the clerical department, + working side by side with the Waacs.</p> + + <p>Others, the telegraphists and telephonists are in the + Signalling Corps and these are the only ones who wear Army + badges. They work under the Officers Commanding Signals and are + so successful that the officers want thousands more.</p> + + <p>Another small group are called the "Hush Waacs." There are + only about a dozen of them and they have come from the Censor's + Office and between them have a thorough knowledge of all modern + languages. They are decoding signalled and written messages, + script of every + kind.</p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page228" + id="page228"></a>[pg 228]</span> + + <p>Numbers more are motor car and transport drivers working + with A.S.C.</p> + + <p>An intensely interesting piece of work at the front in which + the Waacs now are, and in which French women have worked for a + very long time, and are still working in large numbers, is the + great "Salvage" work of the Army. In the Salvage centre at one + ordnance base 30,000 boots are repaired in a week. They are + divided into three classes—those that can be used again + by the men at the front—those for men on the lines of + communication—those for prisoners and coloured labour, + and uppers that are quite useless are cut up into laces. They + salve old helmets, old web and leather equipments, haversacks, + rifles, horse shoes, spurs, and every conceivable kind of + battlefield debris.</p> + + <p>The work of repair and of renewal of clothing, which goes + over to England to be dealt with, is a wonder of economy.</p> + + <p>The women are helping in postal work and we handle about + three million letters and packets a day in France for our Army + there.</p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page229" + id="page229"></a>[pg 229]</span> + + <p>One other piece of work that falls to trained women + gardeners in the Corps, is the care of the graves in France. + There are so many graves in little clusters, lonely by the + roadside, and in great cemeteries. They mark them clearly and + they make them more beautiful with flowers. No work they have + come to do, is done more faithfully than this act of reverence + to our heroic and honoured dead.</p> + + <p>The Y.W.C.A.'s Blue Triangle is going to be the same symbol + for the Waacs as the Red Triangle for the Soldiers. They are + building huts everywhere in France and in England, and the + girls like them as much as the men do.</p> + + <p>In these recreation huts the girls enjoy themselves and + there are evenings when the soldier friends come in, too, and + have a good time with them, for Waacs and the soldiers know + each other and meet at all the Bases and Camps.</p> + + <p>They dance and play games, and act, or sing, or come and + talk, and one visitor tells us of seeing a girl doing machining + at the end of a hut <span class="pagenum"><a name="page230" + id="page230"></a>[pg 230]</span> with one soldier turning + the handle for her and another helping.</p> + + <p>One evening at a dance some gallant Australian N.C.O.'s + arrived carrying two enormous pans of a famous salad, that was + their specialty, as their contribution to the provisions. So + life in the Waacs is not all work—there is play, too, + wisely. Every camp has a trained V.A.D. worker to look after + the girls in case of sickness. If the case is bad they are sent + over to Endell Street Hospital in London.</p> + + <p>The Navy is going to follow the Army—so our women will + be "Soldier and Sailor too," and we shall have to sing, "Till + the girls come home," as well.</p> + + <p>The Admiralty has decided to employ women on various duties + on shore hitherto done by naval ratings, and to establish a + Women's Royal Naval Service. The women will have a distinctive + uniform and the service will be confined to women employed on + definite duties directly connected with the Royal Navy. It is + not intended at present to include those serving in the + Admiralty <span class="pagenum"><a name="page231" + id="page231"></a>[pg 231]</span> departments or the Royal + Dockyards or other civil establishments under the Admiralty. + There are thousands of women in these already, as there were + in Army pay offices, etc., before the Waacs were formed.</p> + + <p>Dame Katherine Furse, G.B.E., will be Director of the + Women's Royal Naval Service, and will be responsible under the + Second Sea Lord, for its administration and organization.</p> + + <p>Already we hear they are likely to be known as the "Wrens." + And so our women are inside the organized forces of defence of + our Country—the last line of usefulness and + service.</p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page233" + id="page233"></a>[pg 233]</span> + + <h3>CHAPTER XII</h3> + + <h2>THE WAR AND MORALS</h2> + + <blockquote> + <p>"Evils which have been allowed to flourish for centuries + cannot be destroyed in a day. If the nation really wishes + to be freed from the consequences of prostitution it must + deal with the sources of prostitution by a long series of + social, educational, and economic reforms. The ultimate + remedy is the acceptance of a single standard of morality + for men and women, and the recognition that man is meant to + be the master and not the slave of his body. There are + thousands of men both in the army and out of it who know + this, and for whom the streets of London have no + dangers."</p> + </blockquote> + + <p class="author">—Dr. HELEN + WILSON.</p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page235" + id="page235"></a>[pg 235]</span> + + <p>The unprecedented state of things produced by the war + brought in its train serious anxiety as to moral conditions, + not only in regard to the relation between the sexes but in + other ways. The gathering of every kind of man together in + camps creates great problems. Young boys, who had never been + away from home before, who know very little of the world or of + temptations, were often flung in with very undesirable + companions. There were many risks and many hard tests and the + parents who see their young boys go to camp without preparing + them, or warning them, do their boys a great disservice and I + have known of sons who bore in their hearts a feeling of having + been badly treated by their parents, that would never die, for + being sent without a word of counsel into these things.</p> + + <p>It is not only actions—corrupt thoughts are the most + evil of all—and to help to give our boys + <span class="pagenum"><a name="page236" + id="page236"></a>[pg 236]</span> the greatest possession, + moral courage, founded on knowledge, is our finest gift.</p> + + <p>There were temptations to think less cleanly, to hear things + said without protest and to say them later. There were drinking + temptations and one used to wonder with a sick heart, what + mothers would feel if they could see these young boys of theirs + sometimes, so pathetically young and so foolish. There was also + in these great camps of men—let us realize that quite + clearly—great good for the boys and the men—good + that far outweighs the evil. All the good of discipline, all + they gained by their coming together for a great cause, all + they gained in that great comradeship and service for each + other, and in their self-sacrifice for their country and the + world. The wonder and beauty of what it is, and means some of + our own men have told us—among them one who died, Donald + Hankey, and has left us a rich treasure in his works. And we + all know it in our own men—that abiding spirit that is + the vision without which the people perish.</p> + + <p>But there are and were evils to fight and men + <span class="pagenum"><a name="page237" + id="page237"></a>[pg 237]</span> and women to help. The huts + and canteens and guesthouses are great agencies for + good—as well as for comfort. Loneliness, and nowhere + to go, and no one to talk to, are conditions that make for + mischief.</p> + + <p>Then there were the girls at the outbreak of the war, + excited by all that was happening, not yet busy as they nearly + all are now, feeling that the greatest thing was to know the + soldiers and talk and walk with them, and flocking around camps + and barracks, being foolish and risking worse.</p> + + <p>The National Union of Women Workers decided to take action + about this and drew up a scheme which they submitted to the + Chief Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police, Sir Edward + Henry, K.C.V.O. This scheme was for women of experience and + knowledge of girls to patrol in the camps and barrack areas, + and talk to girls who were behaving foolishly, and try to + influence them for good. It was felt and it turned out to be + quite accurate that the mere presence of these women would make + girls and men behave better. + <span class="pagenum"><a name="page238" + id="page238"></a>[pg 238]</span> Sir Edward Henry approved + of the idea and arranged that each Patrol should have a card + signed by him to be carried while on duty, authorizing the + Patrols to seek and get the assistance of the Police, if + necessary, and the Patrols wore an armlet with badge and + number.</p> + + <p>Their work in London proved so successful that the Home + Office recommended the adoption of the scheme in provincial + centres, where the Chief Constables authorized them and later + the War Office asked for more Patrols in some of the camp areas + and spoke very highly of their work.</p> + + <p>A woman Patrol is generally a woman who is busy in her own + home or profession all day, but who gives some hours one or two + evenings a week to this work.</p> + + <p>They have done the work faithfully and well, and have + exceeded in their success all anticipations. There are about + 3,000 Patrols in the Kingdom; of these eighty-five are engaged + in special work in London and paid by the Commissioner of + Police. Two are engaged in work at Woolwich Arsenal. Two are + Park Keepers <span class="pagenum"><a name="page239" + id="page239"></a>[pg 239]</span> appointed by the Board of + Works and are working in Kensington Gardens, and their names + were submitted to the King before appointment. They have the + power of arrest.</p> + + <p>A subsidy has been granted to the Women's Patrol Committee + for the training of Women Patrols of £400 a year. In many big + towns admirable work has been done.</p> + + <p>In Edinburgh the Patrol Committee was asked by H.M. Office + of Works to help the men park keepers in keeping order in the + King's Park.</p> + + <p>This they have done with great success. Dublin has just + taken over two women Patrols as paid workers.</p> + + <p>The Military, Admiralty, Police, and Civil Authorities have + all united in praising their work and any one can realize how + much patience and tact and knowledge it calls for, and what it + means to have had it done for over three years. The patrols + have not been content only to talk to the girls, though it is + wonderful what that alone can do. They have succeeded in + getting them to come to clubs and they have worked in + <span class="pagenum"><a name="page240" + id="page240"></a>[pg 240]</span> connection with the mixed + clubs of which we have several very successful ones. A mixed + club is very useful and helpful, but it must be well run by + a good committee of men and women, and you need people of + judgment and knowledge and tactful firmness in charge of it, + if it is to be the best kind of club.</p> + + <p>We have found an admirable thing is to have evenings for men + friends in the Girls' Clubs when the girls can invite their men + friends in, and have music and games and entertainment.</p> + + <p>When Patrols were started, there was a very strong feeling + that there ought to be women police, a much needed change in + our country. We had none when war broke out, but in September, + 1914, Miss Darner Dawson founded the Women Police Service. When + members joined they were trained in drill, first aid, practical + instructions in Police Duties, gained by actual work in + streets, parks, etc. They studied special acts relating to + women and children and civil and criminal law and the procedure + and rules of evidence in Police + Courts.</p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page241" + id="page241"></a>[pg 241]</span> + + <p>Their first work was done in Grantham where, in November, + 1914, the Women's Central Committee of Grantham elected a Women + Police Subcommittee to provide a fund for the payment of two + Police Women to work with the Chief Constable. In February the + following letter was written about their work:</p> + + <blockquote> + <p>"To the Chief Officer, Women Police,—I understand + that there is some idea of removing the two members of the + Women Police now stationed here. I trust that this is not + the case. The services of the two ladies in question have + proved of great value. They have removed sources of trouble + to the troops in a manner that the Military Police could + not attempt. Moreover, I have no doubt whatever that the + work of these two ladies in an official capacity is a great + safeguard to the moral welfare of young girls in the + town.</p> + </blockquote> + + <p class="author">(Signed) "F. HAMMERSLEY, M.G.,<br /> + Commanding 11th Division,<br /> + Grantham."</p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page242" + id="page242"></a>[pg 242]</span> + + <p>and in November, 1915, they were made official Police by the + City Council. In July, 1916, the Police Miscellaneous + Provisions Act was passed, which encouraged the employment of + Policewomen by stating that pay of the police "shall be deemed + to include the pay of any women who may be employed by a Police + Authority," etc.</p> + + <p>Now there are thirty-four Policewomen in our Boroughs, but + their position is still anomalous and unsatisfactory, as they + do not come under the Police Act for purposes of discipline, + pay, pensions, and compensation, but this will come. Meantime + the Women Police Service goes on doing its admirable work of + training and providing Volunteer and Semi-official police + (supported by women's funds), in addition to those appointed by + local authorities in Boroughs.</p> + + <p>These semi-official police women are able to do a great + deal, if the Chief Constable is friendly, and, naturally, they + are appointed where he is so. They are often made Probation + Officers and are used for children's and girl's and women's + cases. Their work leads more and more to the official + <span class="pagenum"><a name="page243" + id="page243"></a>[pg 243]</span> appointments and in this + work as in so many of our successes, we women have achieved + the results by having the voluntary organizations and + training ourselves first and proving our fitness.</p> + + <p>From my own experience, it is impossible to speak too highly + of the kindness and willingness of many Chief Constables to do + everything to teach and help the women.</p> + + <p>The Women Police Service naturally insists on a high + standard of training and this has been of great value.</p> + + <p>A big development of women police work has been in the + Munition factories where now about 700 women are employed in + this capacity in England, Scotland and Wales.</p> + + <p>The report of the Women's Police Service gives the following + interesting account.</p> + + <p>"In 1916 the Department Explosives Supply of the Ministry of + Munitions applied to Sir Edward Henry for a force of Women + Police to act as guards for certain of H.M. Factories. Sir + Edward Henry sent for the two chief officers of the Women + Police Service, and informed them + <span class="pagenum"><a name="page244" + id="page244"></a>[pg 244]</span> that it was his intention + to recommend them to the Ministry of Munitions for the + supplying of the Women Police required. They thanked the + Commissioner for his expression of trust in their + capabilities, and in July an agreement was drawn up between + the Minister of Munitions and the Chief Officer and Chief + Superintendent of the Women Police Service, who were + appointed to act as the Minister's representatives for the + 'training, supplying and controlling' of the Force required. + The duties of the Policewomen were to include checking the + entry of women into the factory, examining passports, + searching for contraband, namely, matches, cigarettes and + alcohol; dealing with complaints of petty offences; + patrolling the neighbourhood for the protection of women + going home from work; accompanying the women to and fro in + the workmen's trains to the neighbouring towns where they + lodge; appearing in necessary cases at the Police Court, and + assisting the magistrates in dealing with such cases, if + required to. The Force for each factory was to consist of an + inspector, sergeants <span class="pagenum"><a name="page245" + id="page245"></a>[pg 245]</span> and constables. Women to be + trained for this work were at once enrolled by the Women + Police Service and trained under a Staff of Officers.</p> + + <p>"Since the inauguration of factory-police work for women in + July, 1916, a marked success has attended the organisation, + which has resulted in almost daily applications for Policewomen + for factories situated in every part of the United Kingdom. We + are not able to give a list of these factories nor to mention + their names in our report of the work carried on by them, but + we may say that at the present time we are supplying H.M. + Factories, National Filling Factories and Private Controlled + Factories. We are sure that our patrons and subscribers will + feel as proud as we are of the intrepid Policewomen who for the + past fourteen months have been carrying out these duties, + which, we believe, no women have hitherto dreamt of + undertaking, and which have called forth qualities of tact, + discretion, cool courage and endurance that would compare well + with any of those whom we call heroes in the fight at the + front. We would call attention to + <span class="pagenum"><a name="page246" + id="page246"></a>[pg 246]</span> one factory from which both + the military and male Police Guard has been withdrawn. The + factory employs several thousand women in the manufacture + and disposal of some of the most dangerous explosives + demanded by the war. When an air raid is in progress the + operatives are cleared from the factory and the sheds and + magazines are left to the sole charge of the Firemen and + Policewomen, who take up the respective posts allotted to + them. The Policewomen who guard the various magazines know + that they hold their lives in their hands. We are proud to + report that not one woman has failed at her post or shirked + her duty in the hour of danger. The duties assigned to the + Policewomen and their officers in these factories have + increased considerably in scope during the past year. In one + factory the force of Policewomen numbers 160 under one Chief + Inspector, two Inspectors and twelve Sergeants, all of whom + have been sworn in and take entire charge of all police + cases dealing with women. They arrest, convey the prisoners + to the Women Police Charge Station, keep + <span class="pagenum"><a name="page247" + id="page247"></a>[pg 247]</span> their own charge sheets and + other official documents, lock the prisoner in the cells, + keep guard over her, convey her to the Court House for + trial, and if convicted convey her to the prison. A short + time ago the Inspector of Policewomen in one of H.M. + Factories was instructed by the authorities to send a + Policewoman to a distant town to fetch a woman prisoner, an + old offender. The Policewoman was armed with a warrant, + railway vouchers and handcuffs. The prisoner was handed over + to the Policewoman by the Policeman, and the Policewoman and + her charge returned without trouble. The prisoner expressed + her relief and gratitude at being escorted by a Policewoman, + and behaved well throughout the journey. The Policewoman + reported that she was given every courtesy and assistance by + both police and railway officials.</p> + + <div class="figright" + style="width:30%;"> + <a href="images/plate259.jpg"><img width="100%" + src="images/plate259.jpg" + alt="POLICE WOMEN" /></a>POLICE WOMEN + </div> + + <p>"We believe this constitutes the first time in history that + women guards have been entrusted with the care and custody of + their fellow-women when charged with breaking the + law."</p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page248" + id="page248"></a>[pg 248]</span> + + <p>Other pieces of important and difficult work have been + undertaken by women.</p> + + <p>There have been, unfortunately, cases in which the soldier's + wife, left at home, has behaved badly and been unfaithful. Men + often write from the trenches to the Chief Constable to ask if + charges made to them in letters about their wives are true. + Naturally the Chief Constable asks the women to investigate + these charges. Sometimes the charges are quite unfounded, + simply spiteful and malicious and the woman and Chief Constable + write and say so.</p> + + <p>In other cases the husband knows of unfaithfulness and + writes to the Army Pay Office asking to have the allowance + stopped to his wife. The Army Pay Office never acts on any such + letter without securing a report from the Chief Constable, and + again the woman is needed, and there is frequently the question + of the children as well. Their allowance, of course, never + ceases but they may go to some relative or be disposed of in + some way.</p> + + <p>These cases are infinitesimal in + number.</p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page249" + id="page249"></a>[pg 249]</span> + + <p>After the outbreak of the war there were many scares. Every + one in our country knows now how a myth is established. We have + left the stage behind where people told you they knew, from a + friend, who knew a friend who knew some one else who saw it, + who was in the War Office, etc., etc., etc.—that England + was invaded—that the Navy was all down—or the + German Navy was all down—that we were going to do this, + that, or the other impossible thing.</p> + + <p>Dame Rumour had a joyous time in the early days of the war + and we suffered from the people who were not only quite certain + that everything was wrong morally, but told us that the + illegitimate birth rate was going to be enormous. Their + accusations against our ordinary girls were monstrous. There + was some excitement and foolishness, but anybody who was really + working and dealing with it as the Patrol were, knew the + accusations were ridiculous. The illegitimate birth rate of our + country is lower than before, which is the best reply to, and + the vindication <span class="pagenum"><a name="page250" + id="page250"></a>[pg 250]</span> of the men of our armies + and our girls against, these absurd attacks.</p> + + <p>Another scare was about the drinking of women. Soldiers' + wives were attacked in this connection and the same kind of + wild accusation made, so much so that a committee was appointed + to go into the whole question (1915), presided over by Mrs. + Creighton, President of the National Union of Women + Workers.</p> + + <p>In my experience a great deal of this talk was caused by the + fact that many women, who had never done social work, and who + knew nothing of real conditions, started to go among the people + and were shocked and overwhelmed by what were unfortunately + normal wrong conditions, and lost all sense of perspective. + Some women did drink—true—but I found they were + generally the women who always had done it, and who perhaps in + some cases, having more money of their own and no husbands to + deal with, drank a little more.</p> + + <p>The findings of the Committee showed this clearly and they + made some recommendations, especially recommending that the + Central Board <span class="pagenum"><a name="page251" + id="page251"></a>[pg 251]</span> for the Control of the + Liquor Traffic proceeded to do on its creation, restriction + of hours of sale. Our restrictions make the sale of liquor + legal only from 12 noon to 2.30 and from 6.30 to 8.30 or 9 + P.M. Our convictions for drunkenness for women have fallen + very low and for men, too. There is very much less drinking + in our country and things are very much improved.</p> + + <p>These attacks on soldiers' wives were naturally much + resented as their work in the homes and industries, with their + men away, and all their difficulties, has not always been easy. + We find there is a little more difficulty with the boys. They + miss the fathers' discipline and there has been some trouble + through that, but such magnificent agencies as the Boy Scouts, + who have helped us everywhere in the war, do great good.</p> + + <p>The problem of dealing with the prevention of immorality has + been a big one. The Women Patrols and the Women Police have + been used in London in Waterloo Road (which had a bad + reputation) and in parks, etc. The G.R. Volunteer Corps of men + who meet the soldier arriving + <span class="pagenum"><a name="page252" + id="page252"></a>[pg 252]</span> in London at the stations + do a very good work.</p> + + <p>In the Army and Navy excellent leaflets and booklets were + issued dealing with the question in a very straightforward and + admirable way.</p> + + <p>The Council for Moral and Social Hygiene and the National + Council for Combating Venereal Diseases has been doing a great + work. The latter, which is a body set up as a result of the + Government Commission on Venereal Diseases, had done a great + deal of educational work and has set up an organization over + the country. The Commission recommended much fuller facilities + for free treatment for those suffering from these diseases in + every town and district.</p> + + <p>A Criminal Law Amendment Bill has been brought in and it + improves our existing law in many ways and strengthens it. + There has been much controversy about certain of its + provisions, some dealing with power to send young girls to + homes. There is a very strong feeling among many of our social + workers that Rescue Work in our country altogether needs + overhauling and change, and new experiments are being + tried.</p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page253" + id="page253"></a>[pg 253]</span> + + <p>Wars have almost invariably in the past meant an enormous + increase in venereal diseases on the return of the army in the + civil population. Armies lose large numbers of men by them, and + every person must feel it is their plain duty to leave no means + untried and no measures unused that could help.</p> + + <p>The woman who lives by her immoral earnings is, like the man + who is immoral and uncontrolled, a serious danger and menace to + her country and to generations yet unborn.</p> + + <p>The problems that arise from the existence of these two + groups are the business of all men and women. The problems are + those of providing decent and wholesome recreation and + surroundings, of helping men and women to meet under right + conditions, of giving the right kind of information and + guidance to the soldier and the girl, of realizing what drink + does in this traffic, and the fundamental task of working to + create better social, economic and moral conditions.</p> + + <p>There is no need nor is it desirable to have masses of + people suffer unnecessary misery by a + <span class="pagenum"><a name="page254" + id="page254"></a>[pg 254]</span> knowledge of the exact + nature of this disease—which leads sometimes to + morbidity and often to a frenzied desire to do something at + once, before they really know anything about the question + and what has been done.</p> + + <p>There are three questions that ought to be answered in the + affirmative before any legislation or preventive treatment is + decided on.</p> + + <p>Will the proposed action apply equally to men and to women, + to rich and to poor?</p> + + <p>Will it tend to increase and not undermine the powers of + self-control?</p> + + <p>Will it improve morals in the nation and elevate them?</p> + + <p>Repressive measures by themselves achieve nothing. + Preventive measures of every practical and sound kind we want, + but most of all we need to inculcate the truth that + "Self-reverence, self-knowledge, self-control, These three + alone lead man to sovereign power."</p> + + <p>It is not enough to prevent and teach. We + <span class="pagenum"><a name="page255" + id="page255"></a>[pg 255]</span> should be willing to help + up, to save, to love, and we should never be self-righteous + in our help.</p> + + <p>Who among us has the right to cast the first + stone?</p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page257" + id="page257"></a>[pg 257]</span> + + <h3>CHAPTER XIII</h3> + + <h2>WHAT THE WAR HAS DONE FOR WOMEN</h2> + + <blockquote> + <p>"Give her of the fruits of her lands and let her own + words praise her in the gates."</p> + </blockquote> + + <p class="author">—PROV., Chap + 31.</p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page259" + id="page259"></a>[pg 259]</span> + + <p>The war has done already, with us, such great things for + women, so many of them so naturally accepted now, that it is + almost difficult to get back in thought, and realize where we + stood when it broke out.</p> + + <p>General Smuts, in one of his speeches, said, "Under stress + of great difficulty practically everything breaks down + ultimately, and the only things that survive are really the + simple human feelings of loyalty and comradeship to your + fellows, and patriotism, which can stand any strain and bear + you through all difficulty and privation. We soldiers know the + extraordinary value of these simple feelings, how far they go + and what strain they can bear, and how, ultimately, they + support the whole weight of civilization."</p> + + <p>In this war our men, in their dealings with us, have got + down more and more to simple fundamental + <span class="pagenum"><a name="page260" + id="page260"></a>[pg 260]</span> truths and + facts—loyalty and comradeship, founded on our common + patriotism. We have got nearer and nearer to the ideal so + many of us long for, equal right to serve and help. The + great fundamental establishment of political rights for + women has come with us. When war broke out, women's suffrage + was winning all the time a greater and greater mass of + adherents, a majority of the House was pledged to vote for + it and had been for years, the Trade Unions and Labour Party + stood solid for it, but the motive to act seemed + lacking.</p> + + <p>War came, and every political party in our country laid + aside political agitation. No party meetings have been held + since August, 1914. Suffragists and anti-suffragists did the + same. The great body of constitutional suffragists kept their + organization intact but used it for "sustaining the vital + energies of the nation." Relief Work, Hospital Work and + Supplies, Child Welfare, Comforts, Workrooms, help for + professional women, work for Belgian refugees, work in canteens + and huts, work for the Soldiers and Sailors + <span class="pagenum"><a name="page261" + id="page261"></a>[pg 261]</span> Families' Association, + Schools for Mothers, Girls' Clubs—into everything the + Suffrage societies fling themselves with ardour, zeal and + ability. No women knew better how to organize, no women + better how to educate and win help. They formed an admirable + Women's Interests Committee, and looked after all women's + interests excellently.</p> + + <p>When the Government issued its first appeal for women + volunteers for munitions and land, etc., it asked the Suffrage + societies to circulate them and to help them to secure the + needed labour from women.</p> + + <p>As the war went on it became clearer and clearer that the + men of the country saw more and more vividly why suffragists + had asked for votes—and more and more were impressed with + the value of their work. At meetings to do propaganda for + Government appeals, when women spoke on the needs of the + country, men everywhere, although it had nothing to do with the + appeal, and had never been mentioned, declared + <span class="pagenum"><a name="page262" + id="page262"></a>[pg 262]</span> their conversion to Women's + Suffrage in the War.</p> + + <p>Women pointed out that they did not want Women's Suffrage as + a reward—but as a simple right. They had not worked for a + reward, but for their country, as any citizen would, but, in + our country, the great converting power is practical proof of + value and they had that overwhelmingly in our work. The Press + came out practically solidly for Women's Suffrage. The work of + women was praised in every paper and one declared, "It cannot + be tolerable that we should return to the old struggle about + admitting them to the franchise." Eminent Anti-Suffragists, + inside and outside of the House of Commons, frankly admitted + their conversion. Mr. Asquith, the old enemy of Women's + Suffrage, said in a memorable speech: "They presented to me not + only a reasonable, but, I think, from their point of view, an + unanswerable case.... They say that when the war comes to an + end, and when the process of industrial reconstruction has to + be set on foot, have not the women a special + <span class="pagenum"><a name="page263" + id="page263"></a>[pg 263]</span> claim to be heard on the + many questions which will arise directly affecting their + interests, and possibly meaning for them large displacement + of labour? I cannot think that the House will deny that, + and, I say quite frankly, that I cannot deny that claim." It + was clear the whole question of franchise would need to be + gone into—the soldiers' vote was lost to him under our + system when he was away, and the sailors' redistribution was + long overdue, an election, as things were, would be + absolutely unrepresentative. So after several attempts to + deal with the problem in sections, a Committee was set up + under the Speaker of the House of Commons to go into the + whole question of Franchise reform and registration.</p> + + <p>The Committee was composed of five Peers and twenty-seven + members of the House of Commons, and started its work in + October, 1916, and in its report, April, 1917, it recommended, + by a majority, that a measure of enfranchisement should be + given to women.</p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page264" + id="page264"></a>[pg 264]</span> + + <p>The National Union of Women's Suffrage Societies and the + Consultative Committee, which had been formed in 1916 by the + N.U.W.S.S., of representatives of all constitutional societies, + presented various memorials, notably an admirable memorandum of + women's work and opinion in favour, prepared by the National + Union for the Speakers' Conference during its sittings. After + its recommendations while the bill was being drafted, Mrs. + Henry Fawcett, LL.D., the President of the N.U.W.S.S., headed a + deputation received by the Premier, Mr. Lloyd George, who has + always been a supporter of Women's Suffrage. This was certainly + one of the most representative and interesting deputations that + ever went to Downing Street. It numbered over fifty and every + woman in it represented a great section of industrial and war + workers—Miss Mary MacArthur, the Trade Union Leader was + there, and Miss Margaret Bondfield, Mrs. Flora Annie Steele, + the authoress; Lady Forbes Robertson, for actresses; Miss + Adelaide Anderson, our Chief Women Factory Inspector; Mrs. + Oliver <span class="pagenum"><a name="page265" + id="page265"></a>[pg 265]</span> Strachey, Parliamentary + Honourable Secretary of the National Union, whose work has + been tireless and invaluable in the House; a woman munition + worker, a woman conductor, a railway woman worker, a woman + chemist, a woman from a bank, a clerk, a shipyard worker, a + nurse, a V.A.D., an eminent woman Doctor, a peeress in Lady + Cowdray, who has done so much for the British Women's + Hospitals and so many other war objects, and women + representatives of every calling in the nation at peace and + war. Mrs. Pankhurst, who has been very active in war work, + was also present on the Premier's invitation, and Mrs. + Fawcett brought a Welshwoman who made her plea in her own + language, the Premier's own, too, and the one he loves to + hear. In his reply, he assured them the bill would contain a + measure of enfranchisement for women as drafted, and he was + quite sure the House would carry it.</p> + + <p>The recommendations of the Speakers' Conference were an + agreed compromise, and the Representation of the People Bill, + as it was called on <span class="pagenum"><a name="page266" + id="page266"></a>[pg 266]</span> its introduction, has gone + through very much on the lines of the recommendations. It + arranges for postal or proxy votes for the soldier, the + sailor and the merchant seaman, it simplifies the + qualifications for men, it retains the University vote for + men and extends it to women, and it enfranchises women of + thirty years of age on a residence qualification, and all + wives of voters of the same age. It disfranchises, for the + time, the conscientious objector who will do no national + service. The age at which our men vote is twenty-one. The + higher age of the women was a compromise, which was accepted + by all women's societies and by labour women, though it was + not the terms they stood for—equality.</p> + + <p>If we had it on the same terms as men, we should very + greatly outnumber the men. There were over a million more women + than men before the war and a new electorate greater than all + the men's numbers brought in at once was not considered wise. + To press for it would have wrecked our chances.</p> + + <p>This measure enfranchises six million women, + <span class="pagenum"><a name="page267" + id="page267"></a>[pg 267]</span> and about ten million men + are now voters, so we have a very fair proportion.</p> + + <p>The women's clause was carried, with only thirty-five + dissentients and later only seventeen voted against it.</p> + + <p>In this same bill, with practically no discussion, an + amendment was carried enfranchising the wives of local + government electors.</p> + + <p>It is difficult to adequately express the confidence, the + desire, and the willingness to co-operate, that there is now + between our men and women.</p> + + <p>We know, too, that the great woman's movement of our + country, which has worked to this end for fifty years and + numbered our greatest women among its adherents, has had much + to do with the ability of our women to take the great part they + have in this crisis. If women had not toiled and opened + education and opportunities to women, and preached the + necessity of full service, we could not have done it.</p> + + <p>One great thing the war has done for our women is to draw us + all closely together—in + <span class="pagenum"><a name="page268" + id="page268"></a>[pg 268]</span> common sorrows, hopes and + fears, we find how much we are one and in so much of our + work women of every rank of life are together. We had that + union before in many ways, but never so completely as now. + <i>Punch</i> has a delightful picture that summed up how we + are mixed in soldier's canteens, and huts and buffets, and + Hospitals, which show a little Londoner saying to a meek + member of the aristocracy "washing up," "Nar, then, Lady + Halexandra, 'urry up with them plaites," and we have an + amusing little play of the same kind. The society girl who + washes down the Hospital steps, and washes up for hours, and + carries meals up and down stairs in her work, week after + week, and month after month, and year after year, in our + Hospitals, knows what work is now, and the soldier who is + served, and the soldier's sister and wife, learns something, + too, about her that is worth learning.</p> + + <p>We have also learned a great deal in our welfare work, and + the welfare supervisors and the workers both have benefited, + and the heads of the innumerable hostels, which we have built + <span class="pagenum"><a name="page269" + id="page269"></a>[pg 269]</span> everywhere for our + girls—dozens in our new Government-built munition + cities, have been of very real help and service to the + girls. A tactful, sensible, educated woman has a great deal + to give that helps the younger girl, and can look after and + advise her as to health, work, leisure and amusements in a + way that leaves real lasting benefit.</p> + + <p>In the munition works, well educated women, women with + plenty of money, women who never worked before, work year after + year beside the working girl. Just at first some of the working + girls were not quite sure of her, but it is all right long, + long ago, and they mutually admire each other. The well-off + woman works her hours and takes her pay, and takes it very + proudly. I have been told many times by these women who, for + the first time know the joy of earning money, "I never felt so + proud in my life as when I got my first week's money." And the + men in the factories learn a lot, too. "Women have been too + much kept back," was the comment of a foreman in a shell + factory to the Chief Woman Factory + <span class="pagenum"><a name="page270" + id="page270"></a>[pg 270]</span> Inspector on a visit she + was paying to it. The skilled men, teaching the women, have + learned a great deal about them, too, and have helped the + women in so many ways. Men have been amazed at the ability + and power and capacity for work of the women and are, on the + whole, very willing to say so and express their + admiration.</p> + + <p>One munition girl writes: "The timekeeper, quite a gorgeous + gentleman in uniform, gave us quite a welcome.... The + charge-hand of the Welder's shop helped us to start, and stayed + with us most of Friday. He was most kind, and showed us the + best way to tackle each job, did one for us, and then watched + us doing it."</p> + + <p>Another says, "Our foreman is a dear old man, so kind and + full of fun. The men welders are awfully good to us."</p> + + <p>In considering the practical facts of new opportunities for + women, one thing is clear. Masses of our women took their new + work as "temporary war workers," but as the war has gone on, it + has become clearer and clearer that, + <span class="pagenum"><a name="page271" + id="page271"></a>[pg 271]</span> in many cases, these tasks + are going to be permanently open to women. One reason is + that many of the men will never return to take up their work + again—another, that many of them will never return to + what they did before.</p> + + <p>They have been living in the open-air, doing such different + things, such big vistas have opened out that they will never be + content to go back to some of their tasks. There is the other + fact that we, like every other country, will need to repair and + renovate so much, will need to create new and more industries, + will need to add to our productiveness to pay off our burdens + of debt, and to carry out our schemes of reconstruction, so + women will still be needed. Our women, in still greater + numbers, will not be able to marry, and the best thing for any + nation and any set of women is to do work, and there will be + plenty of room for all the work our women can do. Many will go + back to home work, of course; there are large numbers who are + working in our country, only while their husbands are away, and + when <span class="pagenum"><a name="page272" + id="page272"></a>[pg 272]</span> they return will find their + work in their homes again.</p> + + <p>We are offering special training opportunities to the young + widow of the soldier or officer.</p> + + <p>In special branches of work our opportunities are very much + greater and better. Medicine is one of the professions in which + women have very specially made good. Better training + opportunities have opened, more funds have been raised to + enable women of small means to get medical education, and the + Queen herself gave a portion of a gift of money she received, + for this purpose. Most medical appointments are open to them + now and they have been urged by the great medical bodies to + enter for training in still greater numbers in the different + Universities, and have done so.</p> + + <p>More research is being done by them in every department. In + professions such as accountancy, architecture, analytical + chemistry, more and more women are entering. In the banking + world women have done very satisfactory work, and one London + bank manager, asked to say what he + <span class="pagenum"><a name="page273" + id="page273"></a>[pg 273]</span> thought of prospects after + the war, says he is very strongly of opinion it will + continue to be a profession for women after the war. This + manager thinks the question of higher administrative posts + being open to women will depend entirely on themselves and + their work, and what they prove capable of achieving and + holding, they will certainly have.</p> + + <p>In the war, one profession, in particular, has come nearer + to finding its rightful place than ever before—the + teaching profession. Their salaries which, in too many cases, + were disgracefully low, have been raised. The woman teacher has + shown her capacity in new fields of work in the boys' schools, + but it is in another sense that their profession, both men and + women, but very specially the women, have achieved a very real + gain in the war.</p> + + <p>The teachers of the country have done a very great deal of + war work of every kind. The National Register of 1915 was + largely done by their labour. The War Savings Associations and + Committees owe a great debt to teachers and inspectors, + <span class="pagenum"><a name="page274" + id="page274"></a>[pg 274]</span> who are the backbone of the + movement, headmistresses are asked constantly to help in + securing trained women, taught to work in Hospitals on their + holidays, on land, in organizing supplies and comforts in + canteens and clubs, and more and more are put on official + Committees in their towns and districts.</p> + + <p>It means the teacher is finding the status and position the + teachers in their profession ought to have in their + communities, and the war has done a great deal towards + achieving that desirable end, though there is still a good deal + to be done.</p> + + <p>In the Government Service there has undoubtedly been great + opportunities for women, especially those of organizing, + executive and secretarial ability—and in many cases the + payment in higher posts is identical for men and women, and + higher posts, if they have the ability, are freely given to + women and the whole position of women in our Civil Service is + improved. In the very highest posts, such as those of Insurance + and Feeble-minded Commissioners, etc., women before the war + received the same salaries as + men.</p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page275" + id="page275"></a>[pg 275]</span> + + <p>The organizing ability and the common sense way in which our + women in voluntary organization, quite rapidly, themselves + decided what organizations were unnecessary and merely + duplicating others, and refused to help them, so that they died + out quite quickly, roused admiration, and the war has educated + vast numbers of women in organization and executive ability. + Women who never in their lives organized anything, and never + kept an account properly, are doing all kinds of useful work. + One nice middle-aged lady whose War Savings Association + accounts were being kept wrongly, or rather were not really + being kept at all, when told they must be done fully and + correctly by one of our National Committee representatives, + said, "Oh, but you see, I never did anything but crochet before + the war"; but we have succeeded in making even the crochet + ladies keep accounts and do wonderful things.</p> + + <p>In the great world of mechanics and engineering, women are + doing a wonderful amount of work and, there is no doubt, will + remain in certain departments after the war. One danger + <span class="pagenum"><a name="page276" + id="page276"></a>[pg 276]</span> there is in the women's + attitude—so many of our women have learned one branch + of work very quickly, that there probably will be a tendency + to believe that anything can be learned as easily. There are + only certain departments of mechanics that can be learned in + a few months' time, and women will probably go on doing + these. Such work as theirs in optical munitions, has shown + their very special aptitude for it and in law-making, etc., + they will be used more and more. Women have successfully + done tool-setting and can go on with that. The training for + civil and mechanical engineering is long, but there will be, + if women are keen and will train, plenty of opportunity for + them in peace-time occupations in civil, mechanical or + electrical branches in connection with municipal, sanitary + and household questions and in laundries, farms, etc. The + women architects and these women could very well co-operate + closely.</p> + + <p>Women clerks and secretaries will remain largely after the + war. Fewer men will want these posts as we are convinced there + will be big <span class="pagenum"><a name="page277" + id="page277"></a>[pg 277]</span> movements among our men to + more active work, to the land and to the Dominions + overseas.</p> + + <p>Women on the land will in numbers stay there, and there is a + distinct movement among women with capital to go in for + farming, market gardening, bee-keeping, poultry-keeping, etc., + still more.</p> + + <p>The war has made more of our fathers and mothers realize the + right of their daughters to education and training, and there + are very few parents in our country now, who think a girl needs + to know nothing very practical, and has no need to go in for a + profession. Our women's colleges have more students than ever + and the war has done great things in breaking down these old + conventional ideas. The war, in fact, has shaken the very + foundations of the old Victorian beliefs in the limited sphere + of women to atoms. Our sphere is now very much more what every + human being's sphere is and ought to be—the place and + work in which our capacity, ability or genius finds its fullest + vent—and there is no need to worry about restricting + women or anyone <span class="pagenum"><a name="page278" + id="page278"></a>[pg 278]</span> else to particular + spheres—if they cannot do it, they cannot fill the + sphere, and that test decides. The dear old Victorian + dugouts grow fewer and fewer in number, but we never must + forget that the great powers of women have not come in a + night, miraculously, in the war. They are the result of long + years of patient work before, and we women, who have had + these great opportunities, must see to it that we nobly + carry on the traditions of teaching and training and + qualifying ourselves for service, bequeathed to us from + older generations.</p> + + <p>One thing, too, despite the war tasks and strain, we have + not lost sight of the fact that the great fundamental tasks of + keeping the house, guarding and seeing to the children must be + well done. Just for a little, some of our tasks of child + welfare had fewer workers, but many of the women realized the + value of all these tasks as supreme, and took up the work + freely. Child welfare work in particular the Suffrage woman + organized and worked, Glasgow Suffragists taking on the + visiting of babies, always done there, + <span class="pagenum"><a name="page279" + id="page279"></a>[pg 279]</span> in a whole ward of the + city, and in other towns they started Day Nurseries.</p> + + <p>Lord Rhondda at the Local Government Board instituted Baby + week and we hope to found a Ministry of Health very soon. So in + the War we have realized even more vividly how great and + valuable and important these tasks of women are. A very great + amount of work for child welfare has been done by our women in + the war, and our infant death rate is going still lower.</p> + + <p>The war has done a great service in drawing women of all the + Allied Nations together—a service whose greatness and + magnitude it is not easy to fully realize. French and English + men and women know so much more of each other now. Our + hospitals in France, our Canteens for French Soldiers, as well + as our own, our women and the French women working side by side + in our army clerical departments and ordnance depots in France, + the Belgians and French who are among us in such large numbers, + make us known to each other. In Serbia we have made many + friends and in Italy and Russia and Romania, + <span class="pagenum"><a name="page280" + id="page280"></a>[pg 280]</span> all links for the future, + and helps to wider knowledge and understanding. It is on + understanding the hopes of the world rest, and we women have + a great part to play in that.</p> + + <p>With America our link has always been very great and all the + help, and gifts, and service America gave us before it entered + the war, have been very precious to us. American women have + given Hospitals and ambulances and everything possible in the + way of succour and of service, and have died with our women in + nursing service, as the men have in our ranks.</p> + + <p>Massachusetts sent a nurse to France, Miss Alice Fitzgerald, + in memory of Edith Cavell, which shows the unity of your + feeling and ours on that tragic execution, and her work under + our War Office in Queen Alexandra's Imperial Army Nursing + Service with the British Expeditionary Force, as well as the + work of all the American nurses we have had helping us, is + another link in the great chain. Our own great Commonwealth of + Nations are nearer to each other than ever before. There were + even people <span class="pagenum"><a name="page281" + id="page281"></a>[pg 281]</span> among us who thought a + little as the enemy did that our Dominions would not stand + by us—stupid and blind people.</p> + + <p>It is their fight as well as ours—the common fight of + all free peoples, and all our united nations stand together, + including those who only a few years ago were fighting us as + brave foes.</p> + + <p>We have learned so much in great ways and in small ways, in + economies and in the care of all our resources, too. We women + are more careful in Britain now. We save food, and grow more, + and produce more, and maids and mistresses work together to + economize and help. We gather our waste paper and sell it or + give it to the Red Cross for their funds, give our bottles and + our rags, waste no food and save and lend our money. We could + not have been called a thrifty nation before the war—we + are much more thrifty now, in many ways, though there are still + things we could learn.</p> + + <p>In the Women's Army and in so much of our work we are + learning discipline and united service—learning what it + means to be proud of your + <span class="pagenum"><a name="page282" + id="page282"></a>[pg 282]</span> corps and to feel the + uniform you wear or the badge is something you must be + worthy of—and it goes back to being worthy of your own + flag and of the ideals for which we all stand in these + days.</p> + + <p>And the young wives who are married and left behind, who + bear their children with their husbands far away in danger, who + have had no real homes yet, but who wait and hope, they are + very wonderful in their courage and pluck—and, most of + all, everywhere, our women, like our men, wisely refuse to be + dreary. There are enough secret dark hours, but in our work we + carry on cheerfully, the women know the soldiers' slogan, + "Cheero," and to Britain and to "somewhere on the fronts," the + same message goes and comes.</p> + + <p>Of the great spiritual worths and values, it has brought to + women very much what it has brought to men. All eternal things + are more real, all eternal truths more clearly perceived. When + the whole foundations of life rock under us, in where "there is + no change, neither shadow of turning," the heart rests more + surely in these + days.</p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page283" + id="page283"></a>[pg 283]</span> + + <p>It has brought us agonies and tears, weariness and pain, + self-denial and great sorrows, but it has brought such riches + of self-sacrifice, such service, such love, has shown us such + peaks of revelation and vision to which the soul and the nation + can attain, that we count ourselves rich, though so much has + gone.</p> + + <p>To think of what we might have been if we had refused to + bear our share—to look back on the evils of luxury and + selfishness that were creeping over us, makes us feel that we + may have lost some things, but "what shall it profit a man if + he gain the whole world and lose his own soul." And we have + saved our soul. The souls of the nations travail in a new birth + through a night of agony and tears. The purposes being worked + out are so great, that it is difficult for us to see them with + our limited human vision, but in great moments of insight we do + see, and having seen, go back to our tasks in the light of that + vision, knowing that though now we fight in dim shadows with + monstrous and awful evils of mankind's + <span class="pagenum"><a name="page284" + id="page284"></a>[pg 284]</span> creation, the day is coming + nearer and the light will come.</p> + + <p>An age is dying and a new age comes, and what it shall be + only the men and women of the world can + answer.</p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page285" + id="page285"></a>[pg 285]</span> + + <h3>CHAPTER XIV</h3> + + <h2>RECONSTRUCTION</h2> + + <div class="poem"> + <div class="stanza"> + <p>"The tumult and the shouting dies—</p> + + <p class="i2">The captains and the Kings + depart—</p> + + <p>Still stands thine ancient sacrifice,</p> + + <p class="i2">An humble and a contrite heart.</p> + + <p>Lord God of Hosts; be with us yet,</p> + + <p>Lest we forget, lest we forget."</p> + </div> + </div> + + <p class="author">—RUDYARD KIPLING.</p> + + <div class="poem"> + <div class="stanza"> + <p>"We shall not cease from mental fight,</p> + + <p class="i2">Nor shall our sword sleep in our + hand,</p> + + <p>Till we have built Jerusalem,</p> + + <p class="i2">In England's green and pleasant + land."</p> + </div> + </div> + + <p class="author">—W. + BLAKE.</p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page287" + id="page287"></a>[pg 287]</span> + + <p>And what is to come after? The first and the last and the + greatest thing to do is to win the war and to get the right + settlement. Unless we finish this struggle with the nations + free, there can be no real reconstruction. The greatest work of + reconstruction—the fundamental work—will be at the + peace table. Those who are giving everything and doing + everything to gain victory for the Allies, are the true + reconstructors of the world.</p> + + <p>The first great task of reconstruction is victory and the + second is right peace settlements.</p> + + <p>We cannot say that anything we can do will make future peace + certain, but we can see that just and righteous settlements are + made, so that the foundations are laid that ought to ensure + peace in the future. There is no real peace possible while + injustices exist.</p> + + <p>There is no real peace possible while evil and good contend + for mastery, and the spiritual conflicts + <span class="pagenum"><a name="page288" + id="page288"></a>[pg 288]</span> of man are, and will be, as + terrible as any physical conflicts. While mankind stands + where it does now, it is well that against corruption of + spirit and thought, we can use our bodies as shields.</p> + + <p>The fact that we have had to fight Germany physically, shows + clearly that spiritually and mentally we were unable to make + them see truth and honour, and the meaning of freedom, and that + the ideal of peace made no real appeal to them.</p> + + <p>They built up in their nation great thought forces of + aggression, of belief in militarism, of worship of might, of + belief that war paid, and was in itself good, that there was no + conscience higher than the state. They even worship God as a + sort of tribal God whom they call upon to work with + them—not a question as to whether they are on God's + side—no—an assertion that God is on theirs.</p> + + <p>That was their thought—and the thoughts of the other + nations were bent on problems of freedom and growing democracy, + of widening opportunities, of political and commercial + interest, <span class="pagenum"><a name="page289" + id="page289"></a>[pg 289]</span> were, on the whole, the + vaguely good thoughts of evolving democracies (with notable + exceptions), but not the clear powerful thoughts needed to + fight effectually those of Germany in the fields of + intellect and spirit.</p> + + <p>People did not see the full evil of Germany's + thought—it was tied up with so much that was efficient + and good and able, and we were only half articulate as to our + own beliefs, and not even thoroughly clear or agreed about + them, and Germany considered us slack and inefficient, and + believed we might even be induced to consent to seeing Europe + overrun and doing nothing. We did not believe, despite warning, + that any nation thought as Germany did and we seemed, in their + minds, to be people to be dominated and swept over.</p> + + <p>One interesting fact to note is that Germany, despite its + boasted knowledge of psychology, did not realise that England + possesses a definite sub-conscious mind which always guides its + actions. The sub-conscious mind of England is a desire for fair + play, for justice, and a very definite sense of freedom. + England is the creator of self-government + <span class="pagenum"><a name="page290" + id="page290"></a>[pg 290]</span> and its sub-conscious mind, + built up for centuries, is a very definite and real + thing.</p> + + <p>The sub-conscious mind of Germany, filled with these + dominating ideas of power and <i>Weltmacht</i> and militarism, + goes on, once set free, to its logical end, and it seems + clearer and clearer that there is no real end to this struggle + till we make the mind and soul of Germany realize its crimes + and mistakes, till they are sane again and talk the A, B, C of + civilization. The real reconstruction of the world begins + there.</p> + + <p>That end reached and settlements justly done, we may + consider schemes for a League of Nations and practical + possibilities of work in international organizations to prevent + disputes leading to war.</p> + + <p>The work of reconstruction must be international, as well as + national, but the people who do, and will do, the best + international work are the people who do the best national + work. The individuals who are not prepared to spend time and + service and effort to make their own country better and nobler, + are going to do nothing for internationalism that is worth + doing. The heart <span class="pagenum"><a name="page291" + id="page291"></a>[pg 291]</span> that finds nothing to love + and work for in its neighbour is the heart that has nothing + to bring to the whole world.</p> + + <p>Again, there must be reparation by the enemy. We cannot + reconstruct this world rightly if we do not enforce justice. A + nation that has broken every international and human law is a + nation that must be made to pay for its crimes as far as human + justice can secure it.</p> + + <p>Our six thousand murdered merchant seamen, the thousands of + passengers they have killed, the civilians they have bombed, + are marshalled against them, and the horrors of their + frightfulness, deliberately planned and carried out against the + peoples they have held in bondage, their refusal to even feed + properly their prisoners and captive people—are we to be + told to reconstruct a world without reparation for these and + their other crimes?</p> + + <p>We shall have a reconstructed world with right foundations, + only when the nations know that justice is throned + internationally, and that every crime is to be judged and + punished. <span class="pagenum"><a name="page292" + id="page292"></a>[pg 292]</span> There can be no new world + without living faith, without real religion. A cheap and + sentimental humanitarism is no substitute for real + faith—philosophies that seem adequate in ordinary + times are poor things when the soul of man stands stripped + of all its trappings and faces death and suffering and + watches agonies. Then the abiding eternal soul knows its own + reality and its oneness with the Divine and eternal, and the + sacrifice of Christ is a real living thing—and in the + men's sacrifice they are very near to Him.</p> + + <p>So the Churches are being tested, too, in this great crisis, + and in a reconstructed world we shall want Churches that carry + the message of Christianity with a clearer and firmer voice, + but that is the task of all believers. We cannot cast the duty + of making the Church a living witness on our priests + alone—it is our work, and unless our faith goes into + everything we do, it is no use. People who profess a faith, and + carefully shut it up in a compartment of their lives, so that + it has no real connection with their work, + <span class="pagenum"><a name="page293" + id="page293"></a>[pg 293]</span> are worse than honest + doubters—because they betray what they profess.</p> + + <p>So reconstruction rests upon great spiritual tasks and + values, and upon the willingness and ability of the nations to + carry these out.</p> + + <p>In our country, our political parties are going to be + changed and reconstructed. The Labour Party has already made a + big appeal to "brain and hand workers," and has announced its + scheme of re-organization.</p> + + <p>One definite result of the war in the minds of the people of + our country is the definite mental discarding of state + socialism of the bureaucratic kind as a conceivable system of + government. We have seen bureaucracy at work to a great extent, + and shall undoubtedly have to continue control in many ways + after peace comes, but we do not like it. Socialism will have + to go on to new lines of thought and development if it wishes + to achieve anything—and the most interesting thought and + schemes are on the lines of Guild + Socialism.</p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page294" + id="page294"></a>[pg 294]</span> + + <p>How the great Liberal and Unionist Parties will emerge, we + cannot say—but this we know, they will be different. We + have a new electorate, more men and the women, and the opinion + and needs of the women will undoubtedly affect our political + reconstruction. Most of us, in the war, have entirely ceased to + care for party; even the most fierce of partisans have changed, + and the "party appeal," in itself, will be of little account in + our country.</p> + + <p>I feel sure we shall scrutinize measures and men and + programmes more carefully, and the work of educating our women + will be part of the women's great tasks in reconstruction.</p> + + <p>Our ability to reconstruct and renew rests fundamentally + upon our financial condition—even the power to make the + best peace terms rests upon it. Crippled countries cannot stand + out for the best terms, so finance is all-important.</p> + + <p>The democratic nature of our loans is all-important, too. We + have had people suggesting that these loans would be + repudiated—a suggestion that is not only absurd, but is + humorous <span class="pagenum"><a name="page295" + id="page295"></a>[pg 295]</span> when one realizes that + about ten million of our people have invested in them. To + get a House of Commons elected that would repudiate these + loans would be a difficult task.</p> + + <p>The widespread nature of the loans is sound for the people + and the Government, and will help us not only to win the war, + but, what is still more important, "to win the peace." We have + in this struggle paid more and better wages to our people than + ever before, conditions have been improved, masses of our + people have led a fuller existence than ever before. We want to + make these and still better conditions permanent. We cannot do + that by a military victory only—we can only do it by + finishing financially sound, and the man or woman who saves now + and invests is one of our soundest reconstructors.</p> + + <p>In the readjustments in industry that must come there will + be temporary displacements, and the money invested will be + invaluable to those affected. In our great task of reorganizing + industries, of renovating and repairing, of building up new + works and adding to our productiveness, + <span class="pagenum"><a name="page296" + id="page296"></a>[pg 296]</span> finance is all-important. + We shall need large sums for the development of our + industry, for the transferring of war work back to peace + pursuits, for the opening up of new industries and work, for + the development of trade abroad and the selfish using up of + resources that could be conserved, makes the work + harder—might even, if extravagantly large, cripple us + seriously at the end of this struggle.</p> + + <p>The sacrifices of our men can achieve military victory, but + weakness and self-indulgence at home can take the fruits of + their victories away.</p> + + <p>Those who are working and saving in our War Savings Movement + are so convinced of its value, not only to the state, but to + the individual, and for the character of our people, that they + have expressed the very strongest conviction that it should go + on after the War, and it will probably remain in our + reconstruction.</p> + + <p>We have also urged the wisdom of saving for the children's + education and for dots for daughters, so that our young women + may have some money in emergencies, or something of their own + <span class="pagenum"><a name="page297" + id="page297"></a>[pg 297]</span> on marriage, and both of + these are being done.</p> + + <p>The great problem of education bulks very large in our + reconstruction schemes. A new Education Bill for England and + Wales has been prepared by Mr. Fisher—and his appointment + is in itself a sign of our new attitude. He is Minister of + Education and is really an educationist, having been + Vice-Chancellor of Sheffield University when given the + appointment. His Bill puts an end to that stigma on English + education, the half-time system in Lancashire, and raises the + age for leaving school to what it has been in Scotland for some + years—sixteen years of age. It provides greater + opportunities for secondary and technical training and improves + education in every way. Its passage, or the passage of a still + better Bill, is essential for any real work in + reconstruction.</p> + + <p>There are other schemes of education being planned and + considered, and women are working with men on the education + committee of the Ministry of + Reconstruction.</p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page298" + id="page298"></a>[pg 298]</span> + + <p>The land question is all-important in reconstruction. We + have fixed a minimum price for wheat for five years, as well as + minimum wages for the labourers on land, men and women, and we + have schemes and land for the settlement of soldiers. It is + safe to predict that agriculture will be better looked after + than it was before the war, and that we have learned a valuable + lesson on food production, and the value of being more + self-supporting.</p> + + <p>There are people who talk airily and foolishly of + "revolutions after the war"—of great labour troubles, of + exorbitant and impossible demands, of irreconcilable quarrels. + These people are themselves the creators and begettors of + trouble, and mischievous in the highest degree. They belong, + though they are much less attractive, to the same category as + the person who tells you that the moral regeneration of the + world is coming from this great war.</p> + + <p>The "revolutionists" have to learn that there is no need to + have any such crises happen, that they can only happen if we + are foolish beyond <span class="pagenum"><a name="page299" + id="page299"></a>[pg 299]</span> belief and + conception—for we have learned in this war how great + and ample is the common meeting ground of all of us, how + impossible it is for anyone to believe that we, who have + fought together, suffered and lost together, while our men + have died together, cannot find in consideration of claims + enough common sense and wisdom to prevent any such + disaster.</p> + + <p>And one wonders where the people are going to be found who + are going to be so unjust to the workers as to provide any + reason for such dangers to be feared, for we know one thing in + the war, that in the trenches, on the sea, behind the trenches + and carrying on at home, the workers have done the greater + part—and they, in their turn, know all others have borne + their share. Out of such common knowledge and the consciousness + that the practical work of democracy is to raise its people + more and more, we shall have not revolution, but evolution of + the best kind. And the moral regeneration of the world will + come if we reconstruct the one thing that matters most and that + is fundamental to <span class="pagenum"><a name="page300" + id="page300"></a>[pg 300]</span> + all—ourselves—and it will not come if we do not. + When one has said everything there is to be said of schemes + and hopes of reconstruction—about the schemes for + better homes, and a great housing scheme is wisely one of + the foundation schemes of our reconstruction, for which + plans are now being prepared, about schemes for the care of + children, about schemes for endowment of motherhood, which + are exercising the minds of many of our women, you are back + again to the individual. When you think of education + schemes, and schemes for teaching national service to the + young, of work to teach care and thrift, you are back again + to the problem of creating character.</p> + + <p>When you go into the great world of industry and its + problems, of care of the workers in health and sickness, of + securing justice and full opportunities, of developing and + wisely using our resources, again you return to the + individual.</p> + + <p>When you want to make the art and beauty of life accessible + to all, you come back to the question + <span class="pagenum"><a name="page301" + id="page301"></a>[pg 301]</span> as to the individual's + desire for it and appreciation of it.</p> + + <p>Schemes in theory may be perfect—reconstruction may be + planned without a flaw—but what does that help if we as + individuals are blind and selfish?</p> + + <p>The regeneration of the world cannot come from the sacrifice + of our men alone, or even of some of us at home. The few may + save countries and do great things, but the work of + reconstruction rests on everybody. Nations are made up of + individuals, and a nation cannot hope for moral and social + regeneration except through individual self-denial, + self-sacrifice and service.</p> + + <p>It is in our own hearts and our own minds that the great + task of reconstruction must be done.</p> + + <p>The greatest task of reconstruction for most of us is to + make all our actions worthy of our highest self—to bring + to the problems that confront us, not one detached and + prejudiced bit of us, but the whole mind and spirit of + ourselves—the best of us always in + unity.</p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page302" + id="page302"></a>[pg 302]</span> + + <p>That is life's greatest task, and calls for all we have to + give, and all we are. There lies true reconstruction and the + hope of all the + world.</p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page303" + id="page303"></a>[pg 303]</span> + + <h2>APPENDIX</h2><span class="pagenum"><a name="page305" + id="page305"></a>[pg 305]</span> + + <p>American Women's War Relief Fund, 123 Victoria Street, + London, S.W. 1.</p> + + <p>Association of Infant Consultation and Schools for Mothers, + 4 Tavistock Square, London, W.C. 1.</p> + + <p>British Women's Hospital, Bond Street, London, W. 1.</p> + + <p>Glove Waistcoat Society, 75 Chancery Lane, E.C. 4.</p> + + <p>Ministry of Food, Mrs. Pember Reeves, Mrs. C.S. Peel, + Grosvenor House, W. 1.</p> + + <p>National Federation of Women's Workers.</p> + + <p>Women's Trade Union League, 34 Mecklenburgh Square, W.C. + 1.</p> + + <p>National Union of Women's Suffrage Societies.</p> + + <p>Scottish Women's Hospitals, 62 Oxford Street, W.C. + 1.</p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page306" + id="page306"></a>[pg 306]</span> + + <p>Women's Interests Committee, 62 Oxford Street, W.C.I.</p> + + <p>National War Savings Committee, Salisbury Square, E.C. + 4.</p> + + <p>National Union of Women Workers (Women Patrols), Parliament + Mansions, Victoria Street, S.W.I.</p> + + <p>Queen Mary's Needlework Guild, St. James Palace, S.W.I.</p> + + <p>National Food Economy League, 3 Woodstock Street, Oxford + Street, W.C.I.</p> + + <p>Prisoners of War, Help Committee, 4 Thurloe Place, Brompton + Road, W.</p> + + <p>Women's Army Auxiliary Corps, Devonshire House, W. 1.</p> + + <p>Women's Branch, Food Production Department, Board of + Agriculture, 72 Victoria Street, S.W.I.</p> + + <p>Women's Service Bureau, L.S.W.S., 58 Victoria Street, S.W. + 1.</p> + + <p>Women's National Land Service Corps, 50 Upper Baker Street, + W. 1.</p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page307" + id="page307"></a>[pg 307]</span> + + <p>Women Police Service, St. Stephens House, Westminster, + S.W.I.</p> + + <p>Young Women's Christian Association, 25 George Street, + Hanover Square, W. 1.</p> + + <p>V.A.D., Lady Ampthill, Devonshire House, W. 1.</p> + <hr /> + + <h3>MINISTRY OF MUNITIONS</h3> + <hr class="short" /> + + <h4>PUBLICATIONS OF HEALTH OF MUNITION WORKERS' COMMITTEE</h4> + + <p>The following Memoranda have been prepared by the Committee + and issued:</p> + + <p>No. 1—Sunday Labour.</p> + + <p>No. 2—Welfare Supervision.</p> + + <p>No. 3—Industrial Canteens.</p> + + <p>No. 4—Employment of Women.</p> + + <p>No. 5—Hours of Work.</p> + + <p>No. 6—Canteen Construction and Equipment (Appendix to + No. 3).</p> + + <p>No. 7—Industrial Fatigue and Its Causes. + <span class="pagenum"><a name="page308" + id="page308"></a>[pg 308]</span> No. 8—Special + Industrial Diseases.</p> + + <p>No. 9—Ventilation and Lighting of Munition Factories + and Workshops.</p> + + <p>No. 10—Sickness and Injury.</p> + + <p>No. 11—Investigation of Workers' Food and Suggestions + as to Dietary. (Report by Leonard E. Hill, F.R.S.)</p> + + <p>No. 12—Statistical Information Concerning Output in + Relation to Hours of Work. (Report by H.M. Vernon, M.D.)</p> + + <p>No. 13—Juvenile Employment.</p> + + <p>No. 14—Washing Facilities and Baths.</p> + + <p>No. 15—The Effect of Industrial Conditions Upon + Eyesight.</p> + + <p>No. 16—Medical Certificates for Munition Workers.</p> + + <p>also, Feeding the Munition Worker.</p> + + <p>Published by H.M. STATIONERY OFFICE,</p> + + <p>London, W.C.</p> + <hr class="full" /> + <span class="pagenum"><a name="pagei" + id="pagei"></a>[pg i]</span> + + <blockquote> + <p>You have read this book and you will agree with the + Publisher that it ought to have an immediate and wide + distribution. Will you help him to eliminate wasteful + advertising by sending the post card enclosed, giving your + opinion of the book to one of your friends.</p> + </blockquote> + + <center> + AND + </center> + + <blockquote> + <p>Since you have probably seen the imprint of G. Arnold + Shaw on a book for the first time, will you spend a few + minutes scanning the following pages, to discover what the + best critical opinion is upon other recent Shaw + publications. They are intended for the discriminating few + as our trademark, "Aere Perennius"—"more lasting than + brass," indicates.</p> + </blockquote> + <hr class="full" /> + <span class="pagenum"><a name="pageii" + id="pageii"></a>[pg ii]</span> + + <h2>Books by Members of the University Lecturers</h2> + + <p>A significant proof of the growth of the Association's + influence in recent years is afforded by the fact that our + Secretary, Mr. G. Arnold Shaw, has been enabled to enter the + publishing field successfully. We reverse thus the plan of + campaign of the ordinary lecture bureau which is usually + impressed with the possibilities of a man who has won fame as + an author rather than as a lecturer; we discover that a man is + a first rate lecturer and then we proceed to make him an + author—also of the front rank as the reviews quoted below + show.</p> + + <h3>ART AND ARCHITECTURE</h3> + + <p><b>By IAN C. HANNAH, F.S.A.</b></p> + + <div class="poem"> + <div class="stanza"> + <p>Some Irish Religious Houses... .50</p> + + <p>Irish Cathedrals... .50</p> + </div> + </div> + + <p><b>By I.B. STOUGHTON HOLBORN</b></p> + + <div class="poem"> + <div class="stanza"> + <p>The Need for Art in Life. (Third Thousand)... + .75</p> + + <p class="i2">"One of the greatest little books of the + Age."—Boston Transcript.</p> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <p>Architectures of European Religions, Illustrated... + 2.00</p> + </div> + </div> + + <h3>AUTOBIOGRAPHY</h3> + + <p>The interest of these books depend not merely upon the + interesting personality of the famous lecturer and the equally + fascinating personalities of his two brothers, but also on the + exquisite literary style to which the critics have paid such + eloquent testimony.</p> + + <p><b>By JOHN COWPER POWYS AND LLEWELLYN POWYS</b></p> + + <div class="poem"> + <div class="stanza"> + <p>Confessions of Two Brothers... 1.50</p> + </div> + </div> + + <p><b>By THEODORE FRANCIS POWYS</b></p> + + <div class="poem"> + <div class="stanza"> + <p>The Soliloquy of a Hermit... 1.00</p> + + <p class="i2">This book can be compared to Amiel's + Journal in the opinion of a prominent London + publisher.</p> + </div> + </div> + <hr /> + <span class="pagenum"><a name="pageiii" + id="pageiii"></a>[pg iii]</span> + + <h3>ESSAYS AND CRITICISM</h3> + + <p>The essays contained in the following books deal with the + best lecture subjects of our various members; they are + specially recommended to those who wish to pursue further the + study outlined in our lecture courses.</p> + + <p><b>By I.B. STOUGHTON HOLBORN</b></p> + + <div class="poem"> + <div class="stanza"> + <p><b>The Need for Art in Life</b>... 75</p> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <p>"The thoughtful man who reads it will feel that a + new</p> + + <p>classic has been added to the world's + literature."—<b>Boston Transcript.</b></p> + </div> + </div> + + <p><b>By JOHN COWPER POWYS</b></p> + + <div class="poem"> + <div class="stanza"> + <p><b>Visions and Revisions</b>, A Book of Literary + Devotions... 2.00</p> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <p>"Seventeen essays remarkable for the omission of all + that is tedious and cumbersome in literary + appreciations."—<b>Review of Reviews.</b></p> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <p><b>Suspended Judgments</b>, Essays on Books and + Sensations... 2.00</p> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <p>"Anything written by John Cowper Powys is arresting + and thrilling. This is superlatively true of his essays + in literary criticism."—<b>Cincinnati + Enquirer.</b></p> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <p>"A book of infinite delight to the book lover, for + few present day writers have the ability in the same + measure as Mr. Powys to express every shade of + impression and sensation, and his ripe judgment will + appeal to all."—<b>Boston Globe.</b></p> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <p><b>One Hundred Best Books</b>, with commentary and + an essay on Books and Reading... 75</p> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <p>"Of each of the hundred books he gives a brief, + sparkling, thoroughly informative and delightfully + interesting critical view. If book reviewers could do + the job as well as Mr. Powys, the book pages would be + the most popular part of a newspaper."—<b>Evening + Telegram, Philadelphia.</b></p> + </div> + </div> + <hr /> + <span class="pagenum"><a name="pageiv" + id="pageiv"></a>[pg iv]</span> + + <h3>FICTION</h3> + + <p>Critics of literature seldom succeed as creative artists and + so it is specially remarkable that the highest authorities give + even more unqualified praise to the fiction of our members than + to their essays. We need not emphasize further our lack of + appreciation for the literary value of "best-sellers"; our aim + has not been to produce topical tracts for the times but novels + that will survive. It is more to us that competent critics + should compare Mr. Powys' fiction to that of Hardy, Dostoievsky + and Emily Bronte than that the public should buy it by the + hundred thousand. Those who are not convinced that "you can + place 'Wood and Stone' unhesitatingly at the side of + Dostoievsky's masterpieces" should reflect that this is not the + over-enthusiasm of "America's newest Publisher" but the verdict + of a London publisher who has long held a pre-eminent position; + it is therefore peculiarly satisfactory to point out that our + first novel "Wood and Stone" was</p> + + <center> + <b>PUBLISHED UNDER THE IMPRINT OF</b> + </center> + + <table summary="" + align="center"> + <tr> + <td align="center">WILLIAM HEINEMANN</td> + + <td align="center">G. ARNOLD SHAW</td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td align="center"> + <div class="figure" + style="width:50%;"> + <a href="images/325-1.png"><img width="100%" + src="images/325-1.png" + alt="HEINEMANN" /></a> + </div> + </td> + + <td align="center"> + <div class="figure" + style="width:55%;"> + <a href="images/3.png"><img width="100%" + src="images/3.png" + alt="SHAW" /></a> + </div> + </td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td align="center">IN LONDON</td> + + <td align="center">IN NEW YORK</td> + </tr> + </table> + <hr /> + <span class="pagenum"><a name="pagev" + id="pagev"></a>[pg v]</span> + + <h3>FICTION</h3> + + <div class="poem"> + <div class="stanza"> + <p><b>By IAN CAMPBELL HANNAH</b></p> + + <p class="i2"><b>Quaker-Born, A Romance of the Great + War</b>... 1.35</p> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <p><b>By I.B. STOUGHTON HOLBORN</b></p> + + <p class="i2"><b>The Child of the Moat</b>, A story of + 1557 for girls... 1.25</p> + + <p class="i2">"Of such absorbing interest and literary + merit that it will doubtless take its place among the + classics."—<b>Art and Archaeology</b>.</p> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <p><b>By JOHN COWPER POWYS</b></p> + + <p class="i2"><b>Wood and Stone</b>, A Romance + reminiscent of the great Dostoievsky... 1.75</p> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <p class="i2">"One of the best novels of the + year."—<b>Evening Post, New York</b>.</p> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <p class="i2">"His mastery of language, his knowledge + of human impulses, his interpretation of the forces of + nature and of the power of inanimate objects over human + beings, all pronounce him a writer of no mean rank. He + can express philosophy in terms of narrative without + prostituting his art; he can suggest an answer without + drawing a moral; with a clearer vision he could stand + among the masters in literary + achievement."—<b>Boston Transcript</b>.</p> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <p class="i2">"Psychologically speaking, it is one of + the most remarkable pieces of fiction ever + written."—<b>Chicago Tribune</b>.</p> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <p class="i2"><b>Rodmoor</b>, A Romance of the old + Thrilling Romantic Order... 1.50</p> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <p class="i2">"It is so far above the average English + and American fiction that one can well exempt it from + the necessity of following the rules. He has intellect, + he has taste, he has a sure instinct for what is + aesthetically fine. These qualities in themselves make + his 'Rodmoor' a novel of exceptional + distinction."—<b>Boston Transcript</b>.</p> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <p class="i2">"Without exception the most exquisitely + written novel of the year."—<b>Atlantic + Monthly</b>.</p> + </div> + </div> + <hr /> + <span class="pagenum"><a name="pagevi" + id="pagevi"></a>[pg vi]</span> + + <h3>HISTORY AND TRAVEL</h3> + + <div class="poem"> + <div class="stanza"> + <p><b>By IAN CAMPBELL HANNAH, M.A., D.C.L., + F.S.A.</b></p> + + <p class="i2">Eastern Asia, A history... 2.50</p> + + <p class="i2">Capitals of the Northlands, A Tale of ten + cities... 2.00</p> + + <p class="i2">The Heart of East Anglia (A History of + Norwich)... 2.00</p> + + <p class="i2">The Berwick and Lothian Coast... 2.00</p> + </div> + </div> + + <h3>POETRY</h3> + + <div class="poem"> + <div class="stanza"> + <p><b>By I.B. STOUGHTON HOLBORN</b></p> + + <p class="i2"><b>Children of Fancy</b>... 2.00</p> + + <p class="i2">"A Notable volume of Verse."—Boston + Globe.</p> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <p><b>By JOHN COWPER POWYS</b></p> + + <p class="i2"><b>Wolf's-bane</b>... 1.25</p> + + <p class="i2">"We hesitate to say how many years it is + necessary to go back in order to find their equals in + sheer poetic originality."—Evening Post, New + York.</p> + + <p class="i2"><b>Mandragora</b>... 1.25</p> + </div> + </div> + + <h3>THE WAR</h3> + + <div class="poem"> + <div class="stanza"> + <p><b>By IAN CAMPBELL HANNAH</b></p> + + <p class="i2"><b>Arms and the Map</b>... 1.25</p> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <p><b>By JOHN COWPER POWYS</b></p> + + <p class="i2"><b>The War and Culture</b>... .60</p> + + <p class="i2">"More weighty than many of the more + pretentious treatises on the subject."—The + Nation.</p> + </div> + </div> + + <center> + <b>Any of the above books sent post-free on receipt of + price by</b> + </center> + + <div class="figcenter" + style="width:100%;"> + <a href="images/327and331.png"><img width="100%" + src="images/327and331.png" + alt="G. ARNOLD SHAW PUBLISHER, NEW YORK" /></a> + </div> + <hr /> + <span class="pagenum"><a name="pagevii" + id="pagevii"></a>[pg vii]</span> + + <h3>Recommended by the A.L.A. Booklist</h3> + + <h4>Specially suitable for Schools and Colleges</h4> + + <h2>ARMS AND THE MAP</h2> + + <h4>A STUDY IN NATIONALITIES AND FRONTIERS</h4> + + <h3>By IAN CAMPBELL HANNAH, M.A., D.C.L.</h3> + + <p class="author"><i>12mo, 256 pages, $1.25 net</i></p> + + <p>This work, which has had a large sale in England, will be + invaluable when the terms of peace begin to be seriously + discussed. Every European people is reviewed and the evolution + of the different nationalities is carefully explained. + Particular reference is made to the so-called "Irredentist" + lands, whose people want to be under a different flag from that + under which they live.</p> + + <p>The colonizing methods of all the nations are dealt with, + and especially the place in the sun that Germany hasn't + got.</p> + + <blockquote class="note"> + <p><b>New York Times</b> says: "Such a volume as this will + undoubtedly be of value in presenting ... facts of great + importance in a brief and interesting fashion."</p> + + <p><b>Brooklyn Daily Eagle</b> says: "It is hard to find a + man who presents his arguments so broad-mindedly as Dr. + Hannah. His spirit is that of a catholic scholar striving + earnestly to find the truth and present it + sympathetically."</p> + + <p><b>Philadelphia North American</b> says: "It is in no + sense history, but rather a preparatory effort to mark + broadly the outlines of any future peace settlement that + would have even a fighting chance of permanency. Only in + perusing a critical study of this character can the vast + problems of post-bellum imminence be fully + apprehended."</p> + + <p><b>Philadelphia Press</b> says: "His work is immensely + readable and particularly interesting at this time and will + throw much fresh light on the situation."</p> + </blockquote> + + <h4>OTHER BOOKS BY IAN C. HANNAH</h4> + + <div class="poem"> + <div class="stanza"> + <p>Eastern Asia, A History... $2.50</p> + + <p>Capitals of the Northlands (A tale of ten cities)... + 2.00</p> + + <p>The Berwick and Lothian Coast (in the County Coast + Series)... 2.00</p> + + <p>The Heart of East Anglia (A History of Norwich)... + 2.00</p> + + <p>Some Irish Religious Houses (Reprinted from the + <i>Archæological Journal</i>)... 50c</p> + + <p>Irish Cathedrals (Reprinted from the + <i>Archæological Journal</i>)... 50c</p> + </div> + </div> + + <h3>G. ARNOLD SHAW Publisher to the University Lecturers + Association</h3> + <hr /> + + <h4>GRAND CENTRAL TERMINAL NEW YORK</h4> + <hr /> + <span class="pagenum"><a name="pageviii" + id="pageviii"></a>[pg viii]</span> + + <h3>Recommended by the A.L.A. Booklist</h3> + + <h4>Adopted for required reading by the Pittsburgh Teachers + Reading Circle</h4> + + <h2>VISIONS AND REVISIONS</h2> + + <h4>A BOOK OF LITERARY DEVOTIONS<br /> + By JOHN COWPER POWYS</h4> + + <center> + <i>8vo, 298 pp. Half White Cloth with Blue Fabriano Paper + Sides, $2.00 net</i> + </center> + + <p>This volume of essays on Great Writers by the well-known + lecturer was the first of a series of three books with the same + purpose as the author's brilliant lectures; namely, to enable + one to discriminate between the great and the mediocre in + ancient and modern literature: the other two books being "One + Hundred Best Books" and "Suspended Judgments."</p> + + <p>Within a year of its publication, four editions of "Visions + and Revisions" were printed—an extraordinary record + considering that it was only the second book issued by a new + publisher. The value of the book to the student and its + interest for the general reader are guaranteed by the + international fame of the author as an interpreter of great + literature and by the enthusiastic reviews it received from the + American Press.</p> + + <blockquote class="note"> + <p><b>Review of Reviews</b>, New York: "Seventeen essays + ... remarkable for the omission of all that is tedious and + cumbersome in literary appreciations, such as pedantry, + muckraking, theorizing, and, in particular, constructive + criticism."</p> + + <p><b>Book News Monthly</b>, Philadelphia: "Not one line in + the entire book that is not tense with thought and feeling. + With all readers who crave mental stimulation ... 'Visions + and Revisions' is sure of a great and enthusiastic + appreciation."</p> + + <p><b>The Nation and the Evening Post</b>, New York: "Their + imagery is bright, clear and frequently picturesque. The + rhythm falls with a pleasing cadence on the ear."</p> + + <p><b>Brooklyn Daily Eagle</b>: "A volume of singularly + acute and readable literary criticism."</p> + + <p><b>Chicago Herald</b>: "An essayist at once scholarly, + human and charming is John Cowper Powys.... Almost every + page carries some arresting thought, quaintly appealing + phrase, or picture spelling passage."</p> + + <p><b>Reedy's Mirror</b>, St. Louis: "Powys keeps you wide + awake in the reading because he's thinking and writing from + the standpoint of life, not of theory or system. Powys has + a system but it is hardly a system. It is a sort of + surrender to the revelation each writer has to make."</p> + + <p><b>Kansas City Star</b>: "John Cowper Powys' essays are + wonderfully illuminating.... Mr. Powys writes in at least a + semblance of the Grand Style."</p> + </blockquote> + + <p>"Visions and Revisions" contains the following + essays:—</p> + + <table summary="authors" + width="100%"> + <tr> + <td align="left">Rabelais</td> + + <td align="left">Dickens</td> + + <td align="left">Thomas Hardy</td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td align="left">Dante</td> + + <td align="left">Goethe</td> + + <td align="left">Walter Pater</td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td align="left">Shakespeare</td> + + <td align="left">Matthew Arnold</td> + + <td align="left">Dostoievsky</td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td align="left">El Greco</td> + + <td align="left">Shelley</td> + + <td align="left">Edgar Allan Poe</td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td align="left">Milton</td> + + <td align="left">Keats</td> + + <td align="left">Walt Whitman</td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td align="left">Charles Lamb</td> + + <td align="left">Nietzsche</td> + + <td align="left">Conclusion</td> + </tr> + </table> + + <h3>G. ARNOLD SHAW Publisher to the University Lecturers + Association</h3> + <hr /> + + <h4>GRAND CENTRAL TERMINAL NEW YORK</h4> + <hr /> + <span class="pagenum"><a name="pageix" + id="pageix"></a>[pg ix]</span> + + <h2>SUSPENDED JUDGMENTS</h2> + + <h3>ESSAYS ON BOOKS AND SENSATIONS<br /> + BY JOHN COWPER POWYS</h3> + + <p>8vo. about 400 pages. Half cloth with blue Fabriano paper + sides $2.00 net</p> + + <p><i>The Book News Monthly</i> said of "Visions and + Revisions":</p> + + <p>"Not one line in the entire book that is not tense with + thought and feeling."</p> + + <p>The author of "Visions and Revisions" says of this new book + of essays:</p> + + <p>"In 'Suspended Judgments' I have sought to express with more + deliberation and in a less spasmodic manner than in 'Visions,' + the various after-thoughts and reactions both intellectual and + sensational which have been produced in me, in recent years, by + the re-reading of my favorite writers. I have tried to capture + what might be called the 'psychic residuum' of earlier fleeting + impressions and I have tried to turn this emotional aftermath + into a permanent contribution—at any rate for those of + similar temperament—to the psychology of literary + appreciation.</p> + + <p>"To the purely critical essays in this volume I have added a + certain number of others dealing with what, in popular + parlance, are called 'general topics,' but what in reality are + always—in the most extreme sense of that + word—personal to the mind reacting from them. I have + called the book 'Suspended Judgments' because while one lives, + one grows, and while one grows, one waits and expects."</p> + + <p>SUSPENDED JUDGMENTS CONTAINS THESE ESSAYS:</p> + + <center> + THE ART OF DISCRIMINATION IN LITERATURE + </center> + + <table summary="authors" + width="100%"> + <tr> + <td align="left">MONTAIGNE<br /> + PASCAL<br /> + VOLTAIRE<br /> + ROUSSEAU<br /> + BALZAC<br /> + VICTOR HUGO<br /> + DE MAUPASSANT<br /> + ANATOLE FRANCE<br /> + PAUL VERLAINE<br /> + REMY DE GOURMONT<br /> + WILLIAM BLAKE<br /> + BYRON</td> + + <td align="left">EMILY BRONTE<br /> + JOSEPH CONRAD<br /> + HENRY JAMES<br /> + OSCAR WILDE<br /> + AUBREY BEARDSLEY<br /> + <br /> + FRIENDS<br /> + RELIGION<br /> + LOVE<br /> + CITIES<br /> + MORALITY<br /> + EDUCATION</td> + </tr> + </table> + + <h3>G. ARNOLD SHAW Publisher to the University Lecturers + Association</h3> + <hr /> + + <h4>GRAND CENTRAL TERMINAL NEW YORK</h4> + <hr /> + <span class="pagenum"><a name="pagex" + id="pagex"></a>[pg x]</span> + + <h1>One Hundred Best Books</h1> + + <h4>With Commentary and An Essay on</h4> + + <h2>BOOKS AND READING</h2> + <hr class="short" /> + + <h2>By John Cowper Powys</h2> + <hr class="short" /> + + <p>This list is designed to supply the need of persons who wish + to acquire a general knowledge of such books in + world-literature as are at once exciting and thrilling to the + ordinary mind and written in the style of the masters. It + recognizes the fact that modern people are most interested in + modern books; but it recognizes also that such books, to be + worthy of this interest, must uphold the classical tradition of + manner and form.</p> + + <table summary="book details" + width="100%"> + <tr> + <td align="left">80 Pages</td> + + <td align="center">12mo.</td> + + <td align="right">75 Cents</td> + </tr> + </table> + <hr class="full" /> + + <div class="figcenter" + style="width:100%;"> + <a href="images/327and331.png"><img width="100%" + src="images/327and331.png" + alt="G. ARNOLD SHAW PUBLISHER. NEW YORK" /></a> + </div> + <hr class="full" /> +<p>***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK WOMEN AND WAR WORK***</p> +<p>******* This file should be named 14676-h.txt or 14676-h.zip *******</p> +<p>This and all associated files of various formats will be found in:<br /> +<a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/1/4/6/7/14676">https://www.gutenberg.org/1/4/6/7/14676</a></p> +<p>Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed.</p> + +<p>Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, +set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to +copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to +protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark. 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War Work, by Helen Fraser + + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + + + + +Title: Women and War Work + +Author: Helen Fraser + +Release Date: January 12, 2005 [eBook #14676] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-646-US (US-ASCII) + + +***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK WOMEN AND WAR WORK*** + + +E-text prepared by Audrey Longhurst, William Flis, and the Project +Gutenberg Online Distributed Proofreading Team + + + +Note: Project Gutenberg also has an HTML version of this + file which includes the original illustrations. + See 14676-h.htm or 14676-h.zip: + (https://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/1/4/6/7/14676/14676-h/14676-h.htm) + or + (https://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/1/4/6/7/14676/14676-h.zip) + + + + + +WOMEN AND WAR WORK + +by + +HELEN FRASER + +G. Arnold Shaw +New York + +1918 + + + + + + + + "No easy hopes or lies + Shall bring us to our goal, + But iron sacrifice + Of body, will, and soul. + There is but one task for all-- + For each one life to give. + Who stands if freedom fall? + Who dies if England live?" + + Rudyard Kipling in "For All We Have and Are." + + + +[Illustration: A FEW SHELLS] + + + + DEDICATED TO MOTHER, ANNE, AND THE BOYS. + + + + +CONTENTS + + +Chapter + + 1. THE SPIRIT OF WOMEN + + 2. ORGANIZATION AND ITS PITFALLS + + 3. HOSPITALS--RED CROSS--V.A.D. + + 4. BRINGING BLIGHTY TO THE SOLDIERS--HUTS, COMFORTS, ETC. + + 5. WOMAN-POWER FOR MAN-POWER + + 6. WOMEN AND MUNITIONS + + 7. THE PROTECTION OF WOMEN IN INDUSTRY + + 8. "THE WOMEN'S LAND ARMY" + + 9. WAR SAVINGS--THE MONEY BEHIND THE GUNS + + 10. FOOD PRODUCTION AND CONSERVATION + + 11. THE W.A.A.C.'s + + 12. WAR AND MORALS + + 13. WHAT THE WAR HAS DONE FOR WOMEN + + 14. RECONSTRUCTION + + + + +ILLUSTRATIONS + + + A FEW SHELLS (Frontispiece) + + MISS EDITH CAVELL + + DR. ELSIE INGLIS + + FIRST AMBULANCE ON DUTY IN THE FIRST ZEPPELIN RAID + + "SOMEWHERE IN FRANCE" + + CLEANING A LOCOMOTIVE + + WOMEN AS CARRIAGE CLEANERS + + WINDOW CLEANERS + + STEAM ROLLER DRIVER + + TRAINING WOMEN AS AEROPLANE BUILDERS + + RIVETTING ON BOILERS + + FACING BOILER BLUE FLANGES + + ROUGH TURNING JACKET FORGING OF 6-POUNDER HOTCHKISS GUN + + HOW TO DRESS FOR MUNITION MAKING + + BACK TO THE LAND + + WOMEN TACKLE A STRONG MAN'S PROBLEM + + SIX REASONS WHY YOU SHOULD BUY WAR SAVINGS CERTIFICATES + + "FOR YOUR CHILDREN" + + BOOK MARKS ISSUED BY THE N.W.S.C. + + W.A.A.C.'s ON THE MARCH + + WOMEN OF THE RESERVE AMBULANCE + + POLICE WOMEN + + + + + + +FOREWORD + + +"Our War Loan from England"--That is the heading under which were +grouped the nine lectures given by Miss Helen Fraser at Vassar +College. England has borrowed a billion or so of dollars from us, but +the obligation is not all her way. The moral strength of our cause is +immeasurably increased by her alliance, and the spectacle of a great +democracy organizing itself for complete unity in a world crisis is +worth an incalculable amount to us. Such a vision Miss Fraser has +brought to her wider public among the women of America in this notable +book. Of her personal influence let me quote again from the Vassar +students' newspaper: + +"Miss Fraser, here's to you! We don't need to say that we liked Miss +Fraser and everything she had to tell us. The way we followed her +around, and packed every room in which she spoke, out to the doors +and sometimes up to the ceiling, is proof enough of that. And even +the fact that it was Sunday could not check our outburst of song +in the Soap Palace as Miss Fraser departed. Her gracious speech of +appreciation left with us the question not phrased by her before, but +certainly in the minds of every one of us who had been hearing her: +'What are _we_ going to do?'" + +An unsolicited testimonial, this, of the most genuine kind. The +College students of today are not easily coaxed into lecture rooms +outside of their own classes. + +I believe that Miss Fraser's book will be read with the same eager +attention that followed her first speeches in this country as she +began her work of educating American women to a sense of what the +mobilization of the entire citizen army of a democracy must mean. + +Nor will her influence cease there. Miss Fraser's book is a piece of +history; and history is action. The wonderful work of the women of +England is already emulated by the splendid efforts along many lines +of the women in our country. The new lessons of co-operation and of +selfless devotion, learned from this book will, I confidently predict, +within a few months, be translated into action by the Women's War +Service Committees in every state of our land. + +And the greatest lesson of all is that women and men must work +together in this new world. I count it an honour--being a man--to be +asked to introduce Miss Fraser in this way to the American public. +For my part I would have no separate women's division, except such +as concerns the tasks exclusively for women. I would have women side +by side with men in every division of labour, working out the task +with equal fidelity, equal authority, and equal rewards. One of the +results of this amazing age is going to be the new comprehension, +understanding, and sympathy of the one sex for the other. + + H.N. MacCRACKEN. + Vassar College, + Poughkeepsie, New York. + January 11, 1918. + + * * * * * + + + + +The women of all the allies are one in this great struggle. Our hopes +and our fears, our anxieties and our prayers, our visions and our +desolations, are the same. + +Our work is the same task of supporting and sustaining the energies of +our men in arms and of our nations at home. All the allied women know +more of each other than they ever did before, and this is all to the +good. + +The task of women in this struggle and in the reconstruction to come +after, are great tasks, and the world needs in every country not only +the wisdom and knowledge of its own women but the strength in them +that comes from being one of a great world-wide group and conscious of +the unity of all women. + +Anything that can help to that unity and understanding seems to me of +great value, and this record is written for American women in the hope +it may be of some small service. + + H.F. + December 25, 1917. + + * * * * * + + + + +THE SPIRIT OF WOMEN + + + "I have no fear nor shrinking. I have seen death so often that + it is not strange or fearful to me.... I thank God for this + ten weeks' quiet before the end. Life has always been hurried + and full of difficulty. This time of rest has been a great + mercy. They have all been very kind to me here. But this I + would say, standing as I do in view of God and eternity, I + realise that patriotism is not enough. I must have no hatred + or bitterness towards anyone." + + --EDITH CAVELL's last message. + + * * * * * + + + + +CHAPTER I + +THE SPIRIT OF WOMEN + +TO WOMEN + + Your hearts are lifted up, your hearts + That have foreknown the utter price, + Your hearts burn upward like a flame + Of splendour and of sacrifice. + + For you too, to battle go, + Not with the marching drums and cheers, + But in the watch of solitude + And through the boundless night of fears. + + And not a shot comes blind with death, + And not a stab of steel is pressed + Home, but invisibly it tore, + And entered first a woman's breast. + + From LAWRENCE BINYON's "For the Fallen." + + +The spirit of women in this greatest of world struggles cannot, in +its essence, be differentiated from the spirit of men. They are one. +The women of our countries in the mass feel about the issues of this +struggle just as the men do; know, as they do, why we fight, and like +them, are going on to the end. The declarations of our Government as +to conditions for peace are ours, too, and when we vote, we shall show +the spirit of women is clearly and definitely on the side of freedom, +justice and democracy. + +Our actions speak louder than any words can ever do, and the record +of our women's sacrifices and work stand as great silent witnesses to +our spirit. There is nothing we have been asked to do that we have not +done and we have initiated great pieces of work ourselves. The hardest +time was in the beginning when we waited for our tasks, feeling as +if we beat stone walls, reading our casualty lists, receiving our +wounded, caring for the refugees, doing everything we could for the +sailor and soldier and his dependants, helping the women out of work, +but feeling there was so much more to do behind the men--so very much +more--for which we had to wait. We did all the other things faithfully +and, so far as we could, prepared ourselves and when the tasks came, +we volunteered in tens of thousands, every kind of woman, young, old, +middle-aged, rich and poor, trained and untrained, and today we have +1,250,000 women in industry directly replacing men, 1,000,000 in +munitions, 83,000 additional women in Government Departments, 258,300 +whole and part-time women workers on the land. We are recruiting women +for the Women's Army Auxiliary Corps at the rate of 10,000 a month and +we have initiated a Women's Royal Naval Service. We have had the help +of about 60,000 V.A.D.'s (Voluntary Aid Detachment of Red Cross) in +Hospitals in England and France, and on our other fronts, in addition +to our thousands of trained nurses. + +The women in our homes carry on--no easy task in these days of +shortages in food and coal and all the other difficulties, saving, +conserving, working, caring for the children, with so many babies +whose fathers have never seen them, though they are one to two years +old, and so many babies who will never see their fathers. + +Some of our women have died on active service, doctors, nurses and +orderlies. Our most recent and greatest loss is in the death of Dr. +Elsie Inglis, the initiator of the Scottish Women's Hospitals, who +died on November 26th, three days after she had safely brought back +her Unit from South Russia, which had been nursing the Serbians +attached to the Russian army. + +One who was with her at the end writes, "It was a great triumphant +going forth." There was no hesitation, no fear. As soon as she knew +she was going, that the call had come, with her wonted decision of +character, she just readjusted her whole outlook. "For a long time I +_meant_ to live," she said, "but now I know I am going. It is so nice +to think of beginning a new job over there! But I would have liked to +have finished one or two jobs here first!" + +She told us the story of the breaking of their moorings as they lay in +the river in a great storm of wind and of how that breaking had saved +them from colliding with another ship. "I asked," she said, "what had +happened." Someone said "Our moorings broke." I said, "No, a hand cut +them!" Then, after a moment's silence, with an expression in face and +voice which it is utterly impossible to convey, she added, "That same +Hand is cutting my moorings now, and I am going forth!" The picture +rose before you of an unfettered ship going out to the wide sea and of +the great untrammelled, unhindered soul moving majestically onwards. + +[Illustration: MISS EDITH CAVELL] + +[Illustration: DR. ELSIE INGLIS] + +There was no fear, no death! How could there be. She never thought of +her own work--she knew unity. "You did magnificently," was said to her +within an hour of her going. With all her wonted assurance and with a +touch of pride she answered, "My Unit did magnificently." + +Her loss is irreparable to us, but there is no room for sorrow. She +leaves us triumph, victory, and peace. + +Edith Cavell's name is another that shines upon our roll of +honour--the same serene great spirit--no thought of self, but only a +great love and desire to serve--and a great fearlessness. Her message, +before she went out alone at dawn to her death, which added another +stain to the enemy's pages dark with blood, was the message of one who +saw the eternal verities, the things worth living and dying for. + +Our men's Roll of Honor is a heavy Roll. We have lost in killed and +permanently out of the army, a million men and over 75 per cent of our +casualties are our own Island losses. Our women in every village and +in every city street have lost husbands, fathers, brothers, lovers and +friends. From every rank of life our men have died, the agricultural +labourer, the city clerk, the railway man, the miner, the engineer, +the business man, the poet, the journalist, the author, the artist, +the scientist, the heirs of great names, many of the most brilliant +of our young men. We comb out our mines and shipyards, and factories, +ceaselessly for more men. Our boys at eighteen go into the army. +From eighteen to forty-one every man is liable for service. Our +Universities have only a handful of men in them and these are +the disabled, the unfit, and men from other countries. Oxford and +Cambridge Colleges are full of Officers' Training Corps men. The +Examination Schools and the Town Hall at Oxford are Hospitals, and +Oxford and Cambridge streets are full of the blue-clad wounded, as +are so many of our cities. We are a nation at war, and at war for over +three years and everywhere and in everything we are changed. + +In these years we women have lived always with the shadow of the war +over us--it never leaves us, night or day. We do not live completely +where we are in these days. A bit of us is always with our men on our +many fields of war. We live partly in France and Flanders, in Italy, +in the Balkans, in Egypt and Palestine and Mesopotamia, in Africa, +with the lonely white crosses in Gallipoli, with our men who guard us +sleeping and waking, going down to the sea in ships and under the sea, +fighting death in submarines and mines, and with those who in the air +are the eyes and the winged cavalry of our forces. + +We mourn our dead, not sadly and hopelessly, though life for many of +us is emptier forever, and for many so much harder, and we wear very +little mourning. We mourn silently, and with a sure faith that our +men's supreme sacrifice is not in vain. "Greater love hath no man +than this, that he lay down his life for his friend." The little white +crosses of our graves symbolize the faith for which they die. + +The message of our soldier poets who have been created by this war +and have written immortal verse, and many of whom have died, is the +message of men who have seen through the veils of time into eternity, +who are free of life and death, whom nothing can hurt, "if it be not +the Destined Will." + +The veils of time grow thin in these days to those of us who take +Death into our reckoning all the time. We think of our men gone on +ahead as eternally young. + + "Solemn the drums thrill; Death august and royal + Sings sorrow up into immortal spheres. + There is music in the midst of desolation + And a glory that shines before our tears. + + * * * * * + + "They shall not grow old, as we that are left grow old + Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn. + At the going down of the Sun and in the morning + We will remember them." + +We know, too, though we do not often define it, that the forces we +women fight in the enemy are the forces that have left women out in +world affairs. + +Germany is the Fatherland, never, it is significant, the Motherland +as our little Islands are, and its mad dream of militarism and +_Weltmacht_ is the dream of men who deny any constructive part to +women in the great affairs of life. The hopes of all the democracies +are bound up in this struggle and its issue, and there is no real +place in the world for the true service and genius and work of women, +any more than for that of the mass of men, save in democracy. We mean +so much in these days by democracy. It seems to be indefinable in its +larger meanings. It is not a system of government, but, on the other +hand, no country can be called democratic that has not established +political freedom, and no country is truly democratic in which such +freedom is only in name, and its women are not included or a group +rule or the demagogue and the worst kind of politician hold sway. + +Democracy is not here till all serve and all are given opportunities +so that they have something of value to give to their country and +to the world. Democracy is the ever changing, ever developing, ever +creative spirit of man expressing itself in his institutions and +systems of government and relationships. + +Its quarrel with our enemies, who would impose on the mass of men +cast-iron systems, and would set up state idols to be worshipped as +higher than the Conscience and spirit of man, is so profound and goes +so deeply into knowledge and feelings that are too big for words, that +the soldier who never tries to express it but goes out and drills and +works and disciplines himself that he may present his body as a living +shield for the faith that is within him, and the woman who works with +him and behind him, healing and giving, silently, are perhaps wisest +of all. + +It is no time for words only, though right words are mighty powers, +but for living faith in deeds and the spirit of the women of all our +allied countries is swift to answer the challenge--by their works +shall ye know them. + +The spirit of our women shows, like that of the French women who +tend their farms, keep their shops, work ceaselessly everywhere, most +clearly and wonderfully in their work. In our hundreds of hospitals +night and day, they care for the wounded and the sick and the dying, +bringing consolation, love, skill, heroism, patience and all fine +things as their gift. From myriads of homes they pour forth to +their daily toil, carrying on the work of the country, educating the +children, taking the place of their men on the railways, the factory, +the workshop, the banks and offices. In the munition works, in the +shipyards, in the engineering shops, in the aeroplane sheds, they +work in tens of thousands--risking life and health in some cases, +but thinking little of it, compared with what their men are doing, +knee-deep in snow and mud and water in the trenches. "Is the work +heavy?" you ask. "Not so heavy as the soldiers'." "Are the hours +long?" "Six days and nights in the trenches are longer." "We are going +to win and you are going to help us"--and the munition girl and the +land girl and the workers answer not only with cheers and words but +answer with shells and ships and aeroplanes and submarines and food +produced and conserved, and in industrial tasks done by men and women +together. + +The enemy airships and aeroplanes bomb our cities but our girls "carry +on"--no telephone girl has left her post--there have been no panics in +our workshops. + +And the spirit of the Waac--the khaki girl--is the spirit of her +brother. + +On one occasion in France in an air raid, enemy bombs came very near +some girl signallers. They behaved splendidly and someone suggested +it should be mentioned in the Orders of the Day. "No," said the +Commanding Officer, "we don't mention soldiers in orders for doing +their duty,"--and that tribute to their attitude is deserved and the +right one. + +And, like our men, we carry on cheerfully, knowing there is only one +possible end, victory. We fight for the sanctity of the given word, +for honour, for the rights of individuals and nations, for the ideals +that have preserved humanity from barbarism, for the right of service, +for the salvation of common humanity. + +More, we women work with a feeling in our hearts that we, who bear +and cherish life, and to whom its destruction is most terrible, have +a great work to do and a great part to play in the settlement of the +problem of war in the future. + +The transmutation of the struggles of mankind from the physical to the +spiritual, the solution of national and international problems, the +solution of all the riddles of life that demand an answer or man's +conquest, cannot be done by man alone. It is our task also and to +the great work of building up a new world after we emerge from this +crucible of fire in which the souls of the nations are being tested, +the spirit of women has much to bring. + + + + +ORGANIZATION AND ITS PITFALLS + + "The more they gazed, the more their wonder grew + That one small head could carry all she knew." + + + + +CHAPTER II + +ORGANIZATION AND ITS PITFALLS + + +There are people who declare that the winning of this war depends on +organization alone. That is palpably untrue. Good organization can do +much. The greatest thing in all organizations is the living flame that +makes grouping real--the selfless spirit of service that the fighting +man possesses and that is beyond all words of praise. + +Talk to a soldier or a sailor, realize how he thinks and +feels about his ship, his battalion, his aircorps. He is +subordinated--selfless--disciplined. The secret of the good soldiers' +achievements and his greatness is selfless service and in our national +organizations behind him that same spirit is the one great thing that +counts. + +If you have that as a foundation among your workers, organization is +easy. + +We found, at the beginning of the war, a great tendency among women to +rush into direct war work. Masses of women wanted to leave work they +knew everything about to go and do work they knew nothing about. +One thing we have realized, that the trained and educated woman is +invaluable, that the best service you can render your country is to do +the work you know best and are trained for, if it is, as it frequently +is, important civic work. Another point, no younger woman should stop +her education or training--it is the greatest mistake possible. The +war is not over and even when it is, the great task of reconstruction +lies ahead and we want every trained woman we can get for that. Our +women are in Universities and Colleges in greater numbers than ever, +and more opportunities for education, in Medicine in particular have +been opened to them. + +The trained woman makes the best worker in practically every +department and is particularly useful in organizing. A scheme that +is only indifferently good but, so far as it goes, is on right lines, +well organized and directed, will be more valuable and get far better +results than a perfect scheme badly organized and run. An organization +or a committee that has a woman as Chairman, President or Secretary, +who insists on running everything and deciding everything for herself, +is bound for disaster. + +I should certainly place the will and ability to delegate authority +high up in the qualifications a good organizer must possess. + +We cannot afford to have little petty jealousies, social, local, and +individual, on war committees or any other for that matter, but in +this big struggle, they are particularly petty and unworthy. + +We have all met frequently the kind of person who tells you, "This +village will never work with that village," or "Mrs. This will never +work with Mrs. That. They never do"; and I always answer, "Isn't it +time they learned to, when their boys die in the trenches together, +why shouldn't they work together," and they always do when it is put +to them. + +There is no difficulty in getting women to work together in our +country. We have a link in our Roll of Honor that is more unifying +than any words or arguments or appeals can be. Our women of every rank +of life are closely drawn together. + +The appeal to women is to organize for National Service and to realize +that work of national importance is likely not to be at all important +work. + +The women in important places in all our countries will be few in +proportion, but the struggle will be won in the Nation, as in the +Army, by the army of the myriads of faithful workers faithfully +performing tasks of drudgery and quiet service--and a realization of +this is the greatest need. + +Sticking to the work is of supreme importance. We do not want people +who take up something with great enthusiasm and drop it in a few +months. Nothing is achieved by that. + +The good organizer sees her workers do not "grow weary in well doing." + +Another important work in organization is to prevent waste of +material, effort and money, by co-ordination whenever possible, +though I should say, as a broad principle, co-ordination should not +be carried to the point of merging together kinds of work that make +a different appeal for work and money and require different treatment +and knowledge and powers. The best results are reached by securing +concentration of appeal and organization on one big issue and getting +the work done by a group directly and keenly interested in the one big +thing and with enthusiasm for it and knowledge of it. + +In the personnel of committees and their composition our women have +made it a definite policy to secure the appointment of women to all +Government and National Committees on which our presence would be +useful and on which we ought to be represented and we always prefer +committees of men and women together, unless it be for anything that +is distinctly better served by women's committees. + +There is one pitfall in organization into which women fall more +readily than men in my experience. Our instinct as women is to want +to make everything perfect. We instinctively run to detail and to a +desire for absolute accuracy and perfection. + +This is invaluable in many ways, but in organizing on a big scale +may be a serious fault. There must, of course, be method, order +and accuracy, but the great essential to secure in big things is +harmonious working--not to insist on a rigid sameness but to allow for +widely divergent views and attitudes and ways of doing things so long +as the essential rules are observed. We should not insist too much +on identity in the way of work of different places and districts. +In essentials--unity; in non-essentials, liberty; in all things, +charity--that might well be the wise organizer's motto. + +The supplementing of governmental organization by national voluntary +organization is a great piece of work and in the beginning of the war, +and still, many of our organizations, voluntary or semi-official in +character, were of great service. The work of the Soldiers and Sailors +Families' Association is an example. The S. and S.F.A. had been +created in the South African War and in peace time and war time looked +after the dependants of the soldier and sailor. Its committees were +composed of men and women--and it administered voluntary funds and +later grants from the National Relief Fund, raised at the outbreak of +war. + +When war broke out, all the Reservists were called up and our men +volunteered in tens of thousands. The pay offices of the army, being +small like everything else in our army, could not cope quickly with +the numbers of claims for allowances pouring in, but the S. and S.F.A. +stepped into the breach and looked after the dependants. It secured +vast numbers more of women in every town and village who visited every +dependant and looked after them. They advanced the allowances which +were paid back to them later--and this started in the first week of +the war. They gave additional grants in certain hard cases for rent, +sickness or in event of deaths in family at home. Every home was +visited and no dependant needed to be in distress or want--S. and +S.F.A. offices existed in every town and representatives in every +village and any difficulty or trouble could be brought to them. The +whole of this work is done voluntarily. In some cases workrooms were +started from which sewing and knitting for soldiers and sailors were +given to the dependents and paid for. It was not only the money and +practical help that was of great service--the S. and S.F.A. visitor to +the soldier's wife and mother brought sympathy and help and interest. + +Another movement for soldiers and sailors dependents was the founding +of clubs for them in many towns. One hundred and thirty-five of these +clubs are linked up now in the United Services Clubs League. They are +bright, cheery rooms in which the women can find newspapers, books, +music, amusement, and opportunity to sew or knit comforts, can meet +their friends and talk. + +The Royal Patriotic Fund was another semi-official organization which +was run voluntarily, gave grants at death of soldier or sailor and +administered pensions. It is now entirely merged in the Naval and +Military War Pensions Statutory Committee and local committees set +up in January, 1916, which administer all grants, pensions, wound +gratuities, etc., and looks after dependants. + +Women sit on the Statutory Committee and there must be women members +on every County, Borough and City War Pensions Committee in our +country. + +The organization of war charities is now in England controlled by the +War Charities Committee appointed by the Government in April, 1916. +The committee controls not only what could be strictly termed War +Charities, but all war agencies of any kind for which appeals for +funds are made to the public. These organizations must be registered +and approved by the committee, and their accounts must be open to +inspection and audit. This was a wise and necessary step, not so much +because of actual fraudulent appeals--there has been practically none +of that, but there was a certain amount of overlapping and of waste of +money, material and energy, and some very few organizations in which +an undue proportion of funds raised was absorbed in expenses. Comforts +for soldiers and prisoners of war parcels are also now co-ordinated +under two national committees. + +The first work of registering Belgian refugees and of providing French +and Flemish interpreters was done by a voluntary organization--the +London Society for Women's Suffrage (a branch of N.U.W.S.S.), which +has always been notable for its admirable organization. It provided +150 interpreters for this work in a few days, and work was carried on +at all the London Centres from early morning till midnight. When the +Government took over the charge of Belgian refugees, the system of +registration used by the London Society was adopted without change by +them and the organizer in charge was taken over also and put in a very +responsible position at the War Refugees Committee's Headquarters. + +The work of our Government Employment Exchanges (which were +established before the War by the Board of Trade) and are now under +the Ministry of Labour--has been supplemented by various Professional +Women's Bureaus, by the compiling of a Professional Women's Register, +secured through Universities, Colleges, Headmistresses' Association, +etc., and by the setting up of the Women's Service Bureau by the +London Society for Women Suffrage (N.U.W.S.S.). Various women's +organizations have established most valuable clearing houses for +voluntary workers in Scotland and England and Wales. The Women's +Service Bureau has dealt with 40,000 applications for voluntary and +paid work--mostly paid. Its interviewers take the greatest trouble to +place these applicants suitably, and to find out just what they can do +or would be good at doing. + +Our biggest Government arsenal secured their first munition +supervisors through it--and the Government Departments, big firms, +factories, organizations, banks, workshops, institutions of any kind, +send to it for workers. + +It not only finds these posts without charge--it is supported entirely +by voluntary contribution--but it has a loan and grant fund to enable +women and girls without money to pay for training and maintenance. + +Its records and the letters in its flies provide reading that is +as absorbing as any novel, and it was one of the wise agencies that +realized the older woman had a place and could help as well as the +younger ones. + +To find the person and the post and to put them together is its +fascinating and admirably done task. + +The organization done by women in Britain has been notable and +admirable. + +I can only touch on some of it and must leave out much, but it is +worth while noting that there has been very little overlapping in the +work. The total percentage of overlapping was estimated by the War +Charities Committee on their investigation at 10 per cent and of that +only a very small amount was due to women. + + + + +WOMEN HAVE SERVED OR ARE SERVING ON THE FOLLOWING GOVERNMENT +COMMITTEES. + + +Belgian Refugees' Committee. 1914. + +Clerical and Commercial Occupation Committee, do (Scotland.) 1915. + +Disabled Officers and Men. + +Education After the War. April, 1916. + +Educational Reform. (August, 1916.) + +Food, Committee of Inquiry Into High Cost of--June, 1916. + +Advisory Committee on Women in Industry. March, 1916. + +Labor Commission to Deal with Industrial Unrest. (Ministry of Labor.) +June, 1917. + +Munitions Central Labor Supply Committee. + +Munitions, Arbitration Tribunals. + +Munitions, Committee on the Supply and Organization of Women's Service +in Canteens, Hostels, Clubs, etc. December, 1916. + +Naval and Military War Pensions Statutory Committee. January, 1916. + +Nurses, Supply of--October, 1916. + +Polish Victims' Relief Fund. + +Prevention and Relief of Distress. 1914. + +Professional Classes Sub-Committee. + +Prisoners of War Help Committee. + +Reconstruction Committee. (To advise the Government on the many +national problems which will arise at the end of the war.) 1916. + +Shops: Committee of Inquiry, to Consider Conditions of Retail Trade to +Secure the Enlistment of Men. (November, 1915.) + +Teachers' Salaries. Departmental Committee of Enquiry. June, 1917. + +War Charities. April, 1916. + +National War Savings Committee. April, 1916. + + +COMMITTEES EXCLUSIVELY COMPOSED OF WOMEN. + +Committee, Report on Joint Standing Industrial Councils. 1917. + +Women's Wages Committee. 1917. + +Central Committee on Women's Employment. 1914. + +Drinking Among Women, Committee of Enquiry. November, 1915. + +There are also two women on the-- + +Executive Committee of National Relief Fund. + +Ministry of Food has two women Co-Directors-- + + Mrs. C.S. Peel + Mrs. Pember Reeves + + + + +HOSPITALS--RED CROSS--V.A.D. + + "Come, ye blessed of my Father; + I was sick and ye visited me." + + --MATT., Chap. 25. + + + "A lady with a lamp shall stand + In the great history of the land, + A noble type of good + Heroic womanhood." + + --H.W. LONGFELLOW, "To Florence Nightingale." + + + + +CHAPTER III + +HOSPITALS--RED CROSS--V.A.D. + + +When war broke out on August 4, 1914, probably the only women in our +country who knew exactly how they could help, and would be used in the +war, were our nurses in the Navy and Army nursing services. + +In the Army, Queen Alexandra's Imperial Military Nursing Service +had in it at that time about 280 members, matrons, sisters and staff +nurses, Miss Becher, R.R.C., being Matron-in-Chief for Military +Hospitals. The Q.A.I.M.N.S. had a large Reserve which was also +immediately called out and these nurses were used at once, six parties +being sent to France and Belgium by August 20th. + +The Second Branch was the Territorial Force Nursing Service, which was +in 1914 eight years old. It was initiated by Miss Haldane and a draft +scheme of an establishment of nurses willing to serve in general +hospitals in the event of the Territorial Forces being mobilized, was +submitted at a meeting held in Miss Haldane's house, Sir Alfred Keogh, +Medical Director General, being present. This scheme was approved and +an Advisory Council appointed at the War Office. + +The Matrons of the largest and most important nurse-training centres +in the Kingdom were appointed as principal matrons (unpaid) and to +them the success of this Force is largely due. They received the +applications of matrons, sisters and nurses willing to join, looked +after their references and submitted them, after approval by the Local +Committee, to the Advisory Council. To their splendid work was due the +ease of the vast mobilization of nurses when war broke out. There were +then 3,000 nurses on their rolls. On August 5th they were called out +and in ten days 23 Territorial General Hospitals in England, Wales and +Scotland were ready to receive the wounded and the nurses were also +ready. + +Each hospital had 520 beds, but this accommodation was quite +inadequate after a few months of war, and the accommodation of +practically every hospital was increased to 1,000 to 3,000 beds and +many Auxiliary Hospitals had to be organized. By June, 1915, the +Territorial Nursing Staff was 4,000 in number and in Hospitals in +France and in Belgium and in clearing stations, there were over 400 +Territorial Nurses as well as Imperial Nurses. + +The Naval Nurses were about 70 in number with a Reserve, and their +Reserve was called up at once also, and they went to their various +Hospitals. The other two great organizations, the British Red Cross +and the order of St. John of Jerusalem, now working together through +the joint committee set up to administer the _Times_ Fund for the Red +Cross, which has reached over $30,000,000, had their schemes also. In +time of war they are controlled by the War Office and Admiralty. The +Red Cross had, since 1909, organized Voluntary Aid Detachments to +give voluntary aid to the sick and wounded in the event of war in home +territory. There were 60,000 men and women trained in transport work, +cooking, laundry, first aid and home nursing. St. John's ambulance had +the same system of ambulance workers and V.A.D.'s to call on. + +As the war proceeded it was quite clear that the nursing staffs, +though we had secured 3,000 more trained nurses through the Red Cross +in the first few weeks of the war, would be quite inadequate, and it +was found necessary to use V.A.D.'s and to open V.A.D. Hospitals, +most of them being established in large private houses lent for the +purpose. Within nine months there were 800 of these at work in every +part of England, Scotland and Wales. The V.A.D.'s suffered a little +at first from confusion with the ladies who insisted on rushing off to +France after taking a ten day's course in first aid. We had suffered +a great deal from that kind of thing in the South African War and +were determined to have no repetition of it, so they were firmly and +decisively removed from France without delay. + +[Illustration: FIRST AMBULANCE ON DUTY IN THE FIRST ZEPPELIN RAID ON +LONDON] + +To get more trained nurses, rules were relaxed and the age limit +raised. Many nurses, retired and married, returned to work, but very +quickly it was perfectly clear our trained nurses were inadequate in +number for the great work before us, and in less than a year in most +hospitals every ward had one V.A.D. worker assisting who had been +nominated by her Commandant and County Director, and in March, 1915, +the Hospitals were asked by the Director General of the Army Medical +Service to train V.A.D.'s in large numbers as probationers, for +three or six months, to fit them for work under trained nurses. +Every possible woman, trained or partially trained, was mobilized and +thousands have been trained during the three years of war, and V.A.D. +members have been drafted to military and Red Cross Hospitals, abroad +and at home, in addition to doing the work of the V.A.D. Hospitals. A +V.A.D. Hospital with a hundred beds will have two trained nurses, and +all the other work is done by V.A.D.'s. The Commandant-in-Chief now +is Lady Ampthill. Dame Katharine Furse was Commandant-in-Chief until +quite recently, but is now head of the new Women's Royal Navy Service. + +Many have gone to France and done distinguished work and there is no +body of women in our country who have done more faithful and useful +work than our V.A.D.'s, who nurse, cook and wash dishes, serve meals, +scrub the floors, look after the linen and do everything for the +comfort and welfare of our men, with a capacity, zeal and endurance +beyond praise. About 60,000 women have helped in this way. Our nurses +and V.A.D.'s have distinguished themselves at home and abroad. +They have been in casualty lists on all our fronts. They have been +decorated for bravery and for heroic work. The full value of all +they have done cannot yet be appraised. They have spent themselves +unceasingly in caring for our men. They have nursed them with shells +falling around. Hospitals have frequently been shelled and in one +case two nurses worked in a theatre, wearing steel helmets during the +bombardment, with patients who were under anaesthetics and could not +be moved. They have waited out beside men who could not be got in from +under shell fire of the enemy until darkness fell. Two V.A.D. nurses +in another raid saw to the removal of all their patients to cellars +and, while they themselves were entering the cellars after everyone +was safe, bombs fell upon the building they had just left and +completely demolished it. Some of our nurses have died of typhus. They +have been wounded in Hospitals and on Hospital Trains, and they have +done all their work as cheerfully and with the same high courage +as our men have. We have had helping us in our nursing numbers of +Canadian nurses, not only for the beautiful Canadian Hospital at +Beechborough Park, but for many other Hospitals in England and France, +and nurses from Australia and New Zealand. + +We have had American nurses, also, but these will now be absorbed, as +needed, by the American Army in France. + +The records of our Medical women in the war are among the very best. +The belief that nursing was woman's work but that medicine and surgery +were not, was dying before the war, but it existed, and it was the +war that gave it the final death blow. Immediately war broke out Dr. +Louisa Garrett Anderson, a daughter of our pioneer woman doctor, Dr. +Elizabeth Garrett Anderson, and Dr. Flora Murray formed the Women's +Hospital Corps, a complete small unit and offered it to the British +Government. It was refused but accepted by the French Government, +and was established by them at Claridge's Hotel in Paris, where it +did admirable work. Its work aroused the interest and admiration of +the British Royal Army Medical Corps, and they were asked to form a +Hospital at Wimereux, which afterwards amalgamated with the R.A.M.C. +Later Sir Alfred Keogh established them in Endell Street, London, +where they have a Hospital of over 700 beds. The women surgeons and +doctors and staff are graded for purposes of pay in the same way as +men members of R.A.M.C. + +In July, 1916, the War Office asked for the services of 80 medical +women for work at home and abroad, and later for 50 more. + +The Women's Service League sent a unit to Antwerp which did some +excellent work, though it was there only a very short time. The +members of the unit were among the last to leave the city, escaping in +the last car to cross the bridge before it was blown up. + +The work of the Scottish Women's Hospitals, organized by the Scottish +Federation of the Nation Union of Women's Suffrage Societies, and +initiated by Dr. Elsie Inglis, of Edinburgh, would require a volume +to themselves, and American women, who have given so generously and +so freely to them, know a great deal about their work. The first +unit went to Royaumont in France, and established itself at the old +Abbaye there. It stood from the beginning in the very first rank for +efficiency. A leading French expert, Chief of the Pasteur Laboratory +in Paris, speaking of this Hospital, said he had inspected hundreds +of military Hospitals, but not one which commanded his admiration so +completely as this. Another unit was sent to Troyes and was maintained +by the students of Newnham and Girton Colleges. Dr. Elsie Inglis's +greatest work began in April, 1915, when her third unit went to +Serbia, where she may he truly said to have saved the Serbian nation +from despair. The typhus epidemic had at the time of her arrival +carried off one-third of the Serbian Army Medical Corps, and the +epidemic threatened the very existence of the Serbian Army. She +organized four great Hospital Units, initiated every kind of needful +sanitary precaution, looked into every detail, regardless of her +own safety and comfort, hesitating at no task, however loathsome and +terrible. Her constant message to the Serbian Medical Headquarters +Staff was "Tell me where your need is greatest without respect to +difficulties, and we will do our best to help Serbia and her brave +soldiers." + +Two nurses and one of the doctors died of typhus. Miss Margaret Neil +Fraser, the famous golfer, was one of those who died there, and many +beds were endowed in the Second Unit in her memory. + +The Third Serbian Unit when on its way out was commandeered by Lord +Methuen at Malta for service among our own wounded troops, a service +they were glad to render. Later when the Germans and Austrians overran +Serbia, one of the Units retreated with the Serbian Army, but the +one in which Dr. Inglis was, remained at Kralijevo where she refused +to leave her Serbian wounded, knowing they would die without her +care. She was captured with her staff and, after difficulties and +indignities and discomforts, were released by the Austrians and +returned through Switzerland to England. On her return she urged +the War Office to send her, and her Unit, to Mesopotamia. Rumors had +already reached England of the terrible state of things there from +the medical point of view, which was fully revealed later by the +Mesopotamian Commission. She was refused permission to go, though it +is perfectly clear their assistance would have been invaluable and +ought to have been used. Once more she returned to help the Serbians +and established Units in the Balkans and South Russia. The Serbian +people have shown every token of gratitude and of honor which it +was in their power to bestow upon her. The people in 1916 put up a +fountain in her honor at Mladenovatz, and the Serbian Crown Prince +conferred on her the highest honor Serbia has to give, the First Order +of the White Eagle. Dr. Inglis died, on November 26th, three days +after bringing her Unit safely home from South Russia. Memorial +services were held in her honor at St. Margaret's, Westminster, and +in St. Giles's Cathedral, Edinburgh. Those who were there speak of +it not as a funeral but as a triumph. The streets were thronged; all +Edinburgh turned out to do her homage as she went to her last resting +place. The Scottish Command was represented and lent the gun-carriage +on which the coffin was borne and the Union Jack which covered it. + +[Illustration: "SOMEWHERE IN FRANCE"] + +In the Cathedral the Rev. Dr. Wallace Williamson, Dean of the Order of +The Thistle, said: "We are assembled this day with sad but proud and +grateful hearts to remember before God a very dear and noble lady, +our beloved sister, Elsie Inglis, who has been called to her rest. We +mourn only for ourselves, not for her. She has died as she lived, in +the clear light of faith and self-forgetfulness, and now her name is +linked forever with the great souls who have led the van of womanly +service for God and man. A wondrous union of strength and tenderness, +of courage and sweetness, she remains for us a bright and noble memory +of high devotion and stainless honor.... Especially today, in the +presence of representatives of the land for which she died, we think +of her as an immortal link between Serbia and Scotland, and as a +symbol of that high courage which will sustain us, please God, till +that stricken land is once again restored, and till the tragedy of +war is eradicated and crowned with God's great gifts of peace and of +righteousness." + +The National Union of Women's Suffrage Societies also sent the +Millicent Fawcett Unit, named after its honoured President, to Russia +in 1916 to work among the Polish refugees, especially to do maternity +nursing, and work among the children. + +In February a Maternity Unit started work in Petrograd. With an +excellent staff of women doctors, nurses and orderlies, the little +hospital proved a veritable haven of helpfulness to the distressed +refugee mothers. It soon established so good a reputation for its +thorough and disinterested work that the help of the workers was asked +for by the Moscow Union of Zemstovos (Town and Rural Councils) for +Middle Russia and Galicia. + +In May the Millicent Fawcett Hospital Units were sent out and at +Kazan on the Volga a badly needed Children's Hospital for infectious +diseases was opened. The only other hospital in the place was so full +that it had two patients in each bed. They had a fierce fight against +diphtheria and scarlet fever, which in many cases was very bad, and +they succeeded in saving most of the children, who would certainly +have died in their miserable homes. + +In the summer, the Units took over a small hospital at Stara Chilnoe, +a district without a doctor, and they treated not only refugees, +but the peasants who came in daily in crowds from the surrounding +districts. Other Units of the same kind were started in remote +districts and in summer a Holiday Home at Suida was run to which the +women and children could come from the Petrograd Maternity Hospital +for a rest. They also took charge of two hospitals, temporarily +without any medical staff, in a remote part of the Kazan district, +where they were objects of the most intense curiosity. + +The interpreters were kept busy answering questions about the ages, +salaries and husbands of the staff, and the nurses' wrist watches +roused great excitement. + +That their gratitude and kindness was very real, though their notions +of suitability of place and time were primitive, was shown by the gift +of three live hens being dumped, at 4 a.m., on the bed of a sister +sound asleep. + +The final piece of work was the establishing of an infectious Hospital +for peasants and soldiers in Volhynia, sixty miles behind the firing +line in Galicia. This was done at the urgent request of the Zemstovos +Union. + +There they had to deal with a great deal of smallpox and in another +case with scabies which they stamped out in one small village. These +Units left Russia before the recent changes, but their work was +valuable and appreciated, and again American women helped us in +raising the necessary funds, having subscribed $7,500 towards the +Units. + +One of the workers, Ruth Holden, of Radcliffe College, Boston, died in +one of the epidemics. We have had American women, as we have had men, +helping us from the beginning of the war. The American Women's War +Relief Fund most generously offered to fully equip and maintain a +surgical hospital of 250 beds at Oldway House, Paignton, South Devon, +at the beginning of the war, and this offer was gratefully accepted by +the War Office through the Red Cross Society. + +They also gifted six motor ambulances for use at the front--and these +and the hospital have been of the very greatest service to our wounded +men. + +Others of our medical women are with mixed Units, such as The Wounded +Allies' Relief Committee. Dr. Dickinson Berry went out with others in +a Unit from the Royal Free Hospital to help the Serbian Government, +and Dr. Alice Clark is in the Friends' Unit. + +Our medical women have won rich laurels and have established +themselves in their own profession permanently and thoroughly. Behind +the Hospitals, we have the thousands of women who every day are +working at the Hospital Supply Depots of our country. These are +everywhere and nothing is more wonderful than the way in which our +voluntary workers have gone on faithfully working, conforming to +discipline and hours and steady service as conscientiously as any paid +worker. + +The organizing ability displayed by our women in this amounts to +genius. The buying of material, cutting and making up, parcelling, +storing, and packing of gigantic supplies, all the secretarial and +clerical work involved has been the work of women and mostly of women +of the leisured classes, many of them without any previous training. +From the organization of the big schemes of supply down to such work +as the collecting of sphagnum moss, everything that was needed has +been done, and done well. + + + + +"BRINGING 'BLIGHTY' TO THE SOLDIER" + + "It's a long, long way to Tipperary, + But my heart's right there." + + "Cheero." + + + + +CHAPTER IV + +"BRINGING 'BLIGHTY' TO THE SOLDIER" + + +"Blighty" is Home, the British soldiers in India's corruption of the +Hindustanee, and Blighty is a word we all know well now. + +The full records of this are not easy to give--so much has been done. +Perhaps the simplest way is to begin with the soldier at the training +camp and follow him through his soldier's existence. The first work +lies in giving him comforts, and the women of our country still knit +a good deal and in the early days knitted, as you do now to get your +supplies, in trains and tubes and theatres and concerts, and public +meetings. This was happening while many of our working women were +without work and it was felt that this was likely to compete very +seriously with the work of these women. The Queen realized there was +likely to be hardships through this and also that there would probably +be a great waste of material if voluntary effort was not wisely +guided. So she called at Buckingham Palace a committee of women +to consider the position and Queen Mary's Needlework Guild was the +outcome of it. The following official statement, issued on August 21, +1914, intimated the Queen's wishes and policy. + + Queen Mary's Needlework Guild has received representations to + the effect that the provision of garments by voluntary labor + may have the consequence of depriving of their employment + workpeople who would have been engaged for wages in the making + of the same garments for contractors to the Government. A very + large part of the garments collected by the Guild consists, + however, of articles which would not in the ordinary course + have been purchased by the Government. They include additional + comforts for the soldiers and sailors actually serving, and + for the sick and wounded in hospital, clothing for members of + their families who may fall into distress, and clothing to + be distributed by the local committees for the prevention and + relieving of distress among families who may be suffering from + unemployment owing to the war. If these garments were not made + by the voluntary labor of women who are willing to do their + share of work for the country in the best way open to them, + they would not, in the majority of cases, be made at all. The + result would be that families in distress would receive in + the winter no help in the form of clothing, and the soldiers + and the sailors and the men in hospitals would not enjoy + the additional comforts that would be provided. The Guild is + informed that flannel shirts, socks, and cardigan jackets + are a Government issue for soldiers; flannel vest, socks, and + jerseys for sailors; pajama suits, serge gowns for military + hospitals; underclothing, flannel gowns and flannel waistcoats + for naval hospitals. Her Majesty the Queen is most anxious + that work done for the Needlework Guild should not have a + harmful effect on the employment of men, women, and girls in + the trades concerned, and therefore desires that the workers + of the Guild should devote themselves to the making of + garments other than those which would, in the ordinary course, + be bought by the War Office and Admiralty. All kinds of + garments will be needed for distribution in the winter if + there is exceptional distress. + + The Queen would remind those that are assisting the Guild that + garments which are bought from the shops and are sent to the + Guild are equally acceptable, and their purchases would have + the additional advantage of helping to secure the continuance + of employment of women engaged in their manufacture. It is, + however, not desirable that any appeal for funds should be + made for this purpose which would conflict with the collection + of the Prince of Wales's Fund. + +Branches of Queen Mary's Needlework Guild were started everywhere +and the Mayoresses of practically every town in the Kingdom organized +their own towns. Gifts came from all over the world and a book kept +at Friary Court, St. James', records the gifts received from Greater +Britain and the neutral countries. + +The demand for comforts was very great and in ten months the gross +number of articles received was 1,101,105, but this did not represent +anything like all. It was the Queen's wish that the branches of her +Guild should be free to do as they wished in distribution, send to +local regiments, or regiments quartered in the neighborhood, or use +them for local distress. Great care was taken to see there was no +overlapping, and this is secured fully by Sir Edward Ward's Committee. + +Our men have been well looked after in the way of comforts, socks and +mitts and gloves and jerseys, and mufflers and gloves for minesweepers +and helmets, everything they needed, and the Regimental Comforts Funds +and work still exists as well, all co-ordinated now. + +The Fleet has also had fresh vegetables supplied to it the whole time +by a voluntary agency. + +At the Training Camps, in France, in every field of war, we have the +Y.M.C.A., and there is no soldier in these days and no civilian who +does not know the Red Triangle. There are over 1,000 huts in Britain +and over 150 in France. It is the sign that means something to eat and +something warm to drink, somewhere cozy and warm out of the cold and +chill and damp of winter camp and trench, somewhere to write a letter, +somewhere to read and talk, somewhere that brings all of "Blighty" +that can come to the field of war. In our Y.M.C.A. huts, 30,000 +women work. In the camp towns we have also the Guest Houses, run by +voluntary organizations of women. In the Town Halls we have teas and +music and in our houses we entertain overseas troops as our guests. + +Our men move in thousands to and from the front, going and on leave, +moving from one camp to another, and Victoria Station, Charing Cross +and Waterloo are names written deep in our hearts these days. We have +free buffets for our fighting men at all of these, and at all our +London stations and ports, and these are open night and day. All the +money needed is found by voluntary subscriptions. + +Our men come in on the leave train straight from the trenches, loaded +up with equipment, with their rifles canvas-covered to keep them dry +and clean, with Flanders mud caked upon them to the waist, very tired, +with that look they all bring home from the trenches in their eyes, +but in Blighty and trying to forget how soon they have to go back. The +buffets are there for them, and those who have no one to meet them in +London and who have to travel north or west or east to go home, are +met by men and women who direct them where to go by day and motor them +across London to their station at night. The leave trains that get +in on Sunday morning brings Scottish soldiers that cannot leave till +evening, and St. Columba's, Church of Scotland, has stepped into the +breach. The women meet the train, carry off the soldier for breakfast +in the Hall, which is ready, and they entertain them all day. +Thousands have been entertained in this way, and "It's just home," +said one Gordon Highlander. + +The soldier is in France and there he finds we have sent him Blighty, +too--canteens and Y.M.C.A. Huts. Our books and our magazines, +everything we can think of and send, goes to every field of war. + +He is followed where he can be by amusement and entertainment. Concert +parties are arranged by our actors and actresses, and they go out +and sing and act and amuse our men behind the lines. Lena Ashwell has +organized Concert parties and done a great work in this way. + +Such work as Miss McNaughton's, recorded in her "Diary of the War," +and for which she was decorated before her death, largely caused by +overwork, as Lady Dorothie Fielding's ambulance work, for which she +also was decorated, and the work of the "Women of Pervyse" stand out, +even among the wonderful things done by individual women in this war. + +The "Women of Pervyse," Mrs. Knocker, now the Baronnes de T'Serclas, +and Miss Mairi Chisholm, went out with the Field Ambulance Committee, +and were quartered with others at Ghent before and during and after +the siege of Antwerp. When the ambulance trains started to come in +from Antwerp they worked day and night moving the wounded from the +station to the hospitals--they worked for hours under fire moving +wounded, unperturbed and unshaken. + +After the battle of Dixmude and the armies had settled on the +Neuport-Ypres line, Mrs. Knocker started the Pervyse Poste de Secours +Anglis, a dressing station so close to the firing line that the +wounded could literally be lifted to it from the trenches. + +There they have worked and cared for the men in conditions almost +incredible. In February, 1915, they were decorated by King Albert, and +since March they have been permanently attached to the Third Division +of the Belgian Army. + +In June, 1915, they were mentioned in dispatches for saving life under +heavy fire. They have saved hundreds of lives by being where they can +render aid so swiftly, and the military authorities do not move them, +not only because they wish to pay tribute to their valor but because +they are so valuable. + +Most of all, "Blighty" goes to the soldier in his letters and there +is nothing so dear to the soldier as his letters, and nothing is worse +than to have "no mail." The woman who does not write, and the woman +who writes the wrong things, are equally poor things. The woman who +wants to help her man sends him bright cheerful letters, not letters +about difficulties he can't help, and that will only worry him, but +letters with all the news he would like to have, and the messages that +count for so much. Every woman who writes to a soldier has in that an +influence and a power worthy of all her best. Not only our letters but +our thoughts and our prayers are a wall of strength to, and behind our +men. + +In this war some have talked of spiritual manifestations that +saved disaster in our great retreat. In that people may believe or +disbelieve, but no person of intelligence fails to realize the power +of thought, and love, and hope, and the spirit of women can be a +great power to their men in arms. There are so many ways of giving and +sending that none of us need to fail. + +Then he is in it--in the trenches--over the top--and he may be safe +or he may be wounded--a "Blighty one," as our men say, and we get him +home to nurse and care for--or he may make the supreme sacrifice and +only the message goes home. + +To everyone it must go with something of the consolation of the poem +written by Rifleman S. Donald Cox of the London Rifle Brigade. + + "To My Mother--1916 + + "If I should fall, grieve not that one so weak + And poor as I + Should die. + Nay, though thy heart should break, + Think only this: that when at dusk they speak + Of sons and brothers of another one, + Then thou canst say, 'I, too, had a son, + He died for England's sake,'" + +He may be a prisoner and then we follow him again. There are over +40,000 of our men prisoners and we have over 200,000 of the enemy. The +treatment and conditions of our prisoners in Germany were sometimes +terrible--the horrors of Wittenberg we can never forget, and we are +deeply indebted to the American Red Cross, for all it did before +America's entry into the war, for our prisoners. + +From the beginning of the war we have had to feed our prisoners, and +for the first two years parcels of food went from mothers, sisters and +relatives of the men. Regimental Funds were raised and parcels sent +through these. Girls' Clubs and the League of Honour and Churches and +groups of many kinds sent also. The Savoy Association had a large fund +and did a great work. + +Parcels, which must weigh under eleven pounds, go free to prisoners +of war and there are some regulations about what may be sent. Now the +whole work is regulated by the Prisoners of War Help Committee--an +official committee, and parcels are sent out under their supervision +to every man in captivity. + +Books, games and clothing also go out from us. In most of the Camps +and at Ruhleben, where our civilians are interned, studies are carried +on, and classes of instruction, and technical and educative books are +much needed and demanded. Schools and colleges have sent out large +supplies of these. + +We have also raised funds for the Belgian Prisoners of War in Germany. + +We have exchanged prisoners with Germany and have secured the release +and internment in Switzerland of some hundreds of our worst wounded, +and permanently disabled, and tubercular and consumptive men. In +Switzerland, among the beautiful mountains, they are finding happiness +and health again and many of them are working at new trades and +training. + +We sent out their wives to see them and some girls went to marry their +released men. Some of our prisoners have escaped from Germany and +reached us safely after many risks and adventures. + +"Blighty" goes out to our men also in our Chaplains, the "Padres" +of our forces, and many times soldiers have talked to me of their +splendid "Padre" in Gallipoli, or France or Egypt. They have died with +the men, bringing water and help and trying to bring in the wounded. +They have been decorated with the V.C., our highest honor, the simple +bronze cross given "For Valour." They write home to mothers and wives +and relatives of the men who fall, and send last messages and words of +consolation. + +Their task is a great one, for to men who face death all the time, +and see their dearest friends killed beside them, things eternal are +living realities and there are questions for which they want answers. +There is so much the Padre has to give and his messages are listened +to in a new way and words are winged and living where these men are. + +We have so many of our men from overseas among us who are far from +their own homes, and in London we have Clubs for the Canadians, the +Australians, the New Zealanders, for the two together, immortally to +be known as the "Anzacs," and for the South Africans, where they can +all find a bit of home. We have also just opened American Huts and +the beautiful officers' Club at Lord Leconfield's house, lent for the +purpose. + +For the permanently disabled soldier we are doing a great deal. St. +Dunstan's, the wonderful training school for the blind, has been the +very special work of Sir Arthur Pearson, who is himself blind, and +Lady Pearson. + +The Lord Roberts Workshops for the disabled are doing splendid work in +training and bringing hope to seriously crippled men. + +The British Women's Hospital for which our women have raised $500,000, +is on the site of the old Star and Garter Hotel at Richmond, and is to +be for permanently disabled men. + +There, overlooking our beautiful river, men who have been broken in +the wars for us, may find a permanent home in this monument of our +women's love and gratitude. + + + + +WOMAN-POWER FOR MAN-POWER + + + "She seeketh wool, and flax, and worketh willingly with her hands. + She is like the merchant's ships; she bringeth her food from afar. + + * * * * * + + "She girdeth her loins with strength, and strengtheneth her arms. + + * * * * * + + "Strength and honour are her clothing; and she shall rejoice in + time to come." + + --PROV., Chap. 31. + + + + +CHAPTER V + +WOMAN-POWER FOR MAN-POWER + + +The first result of the outbreak of war for women was to throw +thousands of them out of work. + +Nobody knew--not even the ablest financial and commercial men--just +what a great European war was going to mean, and luxury trades ceased +to get orders; women journalists, women writers, women lecturers, and +women workers of every type were thrown out of work and unemployment +was very great. + +A National Relief Fund was started for general distress and the Queen +dealt in the ablest manner with the women's problem. She issued this +appeal: "In the firm belief that prevention of distress is better than +its relief, and employment is better than charity, I have inaugurated +the 'Queen's Work for Women Fund,' Its object is to provide employment +for as many as possible of the women of this country who have been +thrown out of work by the war. I appeal to the women of Great Britain +to help their less fortunate sisters through the fund. + +"MARY R." + +This appeal was instantly responded to and large sums were subscribed. +A very representative Committee of Women was established, with Miss +Mary MacArthur, the well known Trade Union leader, as Hon. Secretary +and the Queen was in daily touch with its work. + +In the dislocation of industry which had caused the committee's +formation, it was found that there was great slackness in one trade or +a part of it and great pressure in other parts of it or other trades. +The problem was to use the unemployed firms and workers for the new +national needs. + +The committee considered it part of their work to endeavor to increase +the number of firms getting Government contracts, and they created a +special Contracts Department, under the direction of Mr. J.J. Mallon, +of the Anti-sweating League. They, as a result, advised in regard +to the placing of contracts and they undertook to get articles for +the Government, or ordered by other sources, manufactured by firms +adversely affected by the war or in their own workrooms. They worked +with the firms accustomed to making men's clothing and now unemployed, +and found that they could easily take military contracts if certain +technical difficulties were removed. They interviewed the War Office +authorities, modifications were suggested and approved and the full +employment in the tailoring trade which followed gave a greatly +improved supply of army clothing. Contracts were secured from the war +office for khaki cloth, blankets, and various kinds of hosiery, and +these were carried out by manufacturers who otherwise would have had +to close down. + +The Queen gave orders for her own gifts to the troops, and +considerable work was done through trade workshops, care being taken +to see that this work was only done where ordinary trade was fully +employed. Two contracts from the War Office, typical of others, were +for 20,000 shirts and for 2,000,000 pairs of army socks. Over 130 +firms received contracts through the committee. + +New openings for trades were tested and the possibility of the +transference of work formerly done in Germany. + +In its Relief Work the committee had its greatest problems. It was +clear that if rates paid were high, women would come in from badly +paid trades, and it was clear that if they sold the work, it would +injure trade--so in the end it was decided to pay a low wage, 11/6 a +week--and to give away, through the right agencies, the garments and +things made in the workrooms. + +The inefficiency of many workers was very clear and training +schemes resulted--for typing, shorthand, in leather work, chair seat +willowing, in cookery, dressmaking and dress-cutting, home nursing, +etc. + +Professional women were helped through various funds and workrooms +were established by other organizations, several being started in +London by the N.U.W.S.S. + +[Illustration: CLEANING A LOCOMOTIVE] + +[Illustration: WOMEN AS CARRIAGE CLEANERS] + +As the months went on women began to be absorbed more and more into +industry. Men were going into the army ceaselessly, our war needs were +growing greater and our women found work opening out more and more. +The Women's Service Bureau had been opened within a week of the +outbreak of war and had done valuable work in placing women, before +the Board of Trade issued its first official appeal to women, +additional to those already in industry, to volunteer for War Service. +It was sent out by Mr. Runciman, President of the Board of Trade, and +read as follows: + + The President of the Board of Trade wishes to call attention + to the fact that in the present emergency, if the full + fighting power of the nation is to be put forth on the field + of battle, the full working power of the nation must be made + available to carry on its essential trades at home. Already, + in certain important occupations there are not enough men and + women to do the work. This shortage will certainly spread + to other occupations as more and more men join the fighting + forces. + + In order to meet both the present and the future needs of + national industry during the war, the Government wish to + obtain particulars of the women available, with or without + previous training, for paid employment. Accordingly, they + invite all women who are prepared, if needed, to take paid + employment of any kind--industrial, agricultural, clerical, + etc.--to enter themselves upon the Register of Women for War + Service which is being prepared by the Board of Trade Labour + Exchanges. + + Any woman living in a town where there is a Labour Exchange + can register by going there in person. If she is not near a + Labour Exchange she can get a form of registration from the + local agency of the Unemployment Fund. Forms will also be sent + out through a number of women's societies. + + The object of registration is to find out what reserve force + of women's labour, trained or untrained, can be made available + if required. As from time to time actual openings for + employment present themselves, notice will be given through + the Labor Exchanges, with full details as to the nature of + work, conditions, and pay, and, so far as special training + is necessary, arrangements will, if possible, be made for the + purpose. + + Any woman who by working helps to release a man or to equip a + man for fighting does national war service. Every woman should + register who is able and willing to take employment. + +The forms were sent out in large numbers through the women's societies +of the country, and it was stated on them that women were wanted +at once for farm-work, dairy work, brush-making, leather stitching, +clothing, machinery and machining for armaments. + +By next day the registrations were 4,000, mostly middle-class women, +and in the first week 20,000 registered and an average of 5,000 a week +after, but the mass of women who registered waited with no real lead +or use of them for a long time. The Government seemed to suffer from +a delusion a great many people have, that if you have enough machinery +and masses of names something is being done, but you do not solve any +problem by registers. You solve it by getting the workers and the work +together. + +The Government had not approached employers at first, but had left +it to them entirely to take the initiative in this great replacement. +This they had to a considerable extent done, using the Labour +Exchanges and the other agencies and women were more and more quickly, +steadily, ceaselessly replacing men. + +The appeals for women for munition work were most swiftly responded to +and educated women volunteered in thousands, as did working girls and +women. + +The question of assisting employment by fitting more women for +commercial and industrial occupations was considered by the +Government, and in October, 1915, the Clerical and Commercial +Occupations Committee was appointed by the Home Office--a similar +committee being set up for Scotland. It arranged with the London +County Council and with local authorities that their Education +Committees should initiate emergency courses all over the country for +training in general clerical work, bookkeeping and office routine. The +courses lasted from three to ten weeks, and the age of the students +varied from eighteen to thirty-five. + +Many free courses were inaugurated by business firms in large London +stores, notably Harrods and Whiteleys, where their courses included +all office and business training. Six week courses of free training +for the grocery trade, for the boot trade, lens making, waiting, +hairdressing, etc., were also given. + +Our woman labor has been found to be quite mobile and girls have moved +in thousands from one part of the country to another, and the munition +girl travelling home on holiday on her special permit is a familiar +figure. + +The registration, placing and moving of our workers is all done by +our Labour Exchanges, now renamed Employment Exchanges and transferred +from the Board of Trade to the Ministry of Labour. + +When the National Service Department was set up, a Women's Branch +was established with Mrs. H.J. Tennant, and Miss Violet Markham as +Co-directors, and they made various appeals, registered women for the +land, munitions, W.A.A.C. and for wood cutting and pitprop making. +A great demonstration of "Women's Service" was held in the Albert +Hall in January 17, 1917, at which Mrs. Tennant and Miss Markham, +Lord Derby, Minister of War; Mr. Prothero, President of the Board of +Agriculture, and Mr. John Hodge, Minister of Labour, spoke and at +which the Queen was present. It was an appeal to women for more work +and a registration of their determination to go on doing all that was +needed. The men's message was one to equals--they asked great things. +A message from Queen Mary was read for the first time at any public +meeting and it was the only occasion on which she has attended one. + +The number of women now in our industry directly replacing men, +according to our latest returns, is over one and a quarter millions. +This does not include domestic service, where our maids grow less and +less numerous and Sir Auckland Geddes, Director of National Service, +tells us he is considering cutting down servants in any establishment +to not more than three, and it does not include very small shops and +firms. + +The processes in industry in which women work are numbered in +hundreds. The War Office in 1916 issued an official memorandum for +the use of Military Representatives and Tribunals setting forth the +processes in which women worked and the trades and occupations, and +giving photographs of women doing unaccustomed and heavy work, to +guide the Tribunals in deciding exemptions of men called up for +Military Service. + +In professional work today women are everywhere. There are 198,000 +women in Government Departments, 83,000 of these new since the war. +They are doing typing, shorthand, and secretarial work, organizing and +executive work. They are in the Censor's office in large numbers and +doing important work at the Census of Production. There are 146,000 on +Local Government work. The woman teacher has invaded that stronghold +of man in England, the Boys' High and Grammar Schools, and is doing +good work there. They are replacing men chemists in works, doing +research, working at dental mechanics, are tracing plans. They are +driving motor cars in large numbers. Our Prime Minister has a woman +chauffeur. They are driving delivery vans and bringing us our goods, +our bread and our milk. They carry a great part of our mail and trudge +through villages and cities with it. They drive our mail vans, and +I know two daughters of a peer who drive mail vans in London. I know +other women who never did any work in their lives who for three years +have worked in factories, taking the same work, the same holidays, the +same pay as the other girls. Women are gardeners, elevator attendants, +commissionaires and conductors on our buses and trams, and in +provincial towns drive many of the electric trams. + +[Illustration: WINDOW CLEANERS] + +[Illustration: STEAM ROLLER DRIVER] + +In the railways they are booking clerks, carriage and engine cleaners +and greasers, and carriage repairers, cooks and waiters in dining +cars, platform, parcel and goods porters, telegraphists and ticket +collectors and inspectors, and labourers and wagon sheet repairers. +They work in quarries, are coal workers, clean ships, are park-keepers +and cinema operators. They are commercial travellers in large numbers. +They are in banks to a great extent and are now taking banking +examinations. + +There was a very strong feeling as the replacement by women went on +that there must be no lowering of wage standards which would not only +be grossly unfair to women but imperil the returning soldier's chance +of getting his post back. + +Mrs. Fawcett, on behalf of the Women's Interests Committee of the +N.U.W.S.S., called a conference on the question of War Service and +wages in 1915, and Mr. Runciman stated at the conference: + + As regards the wages and conditions on which women should be + employed, as a general principle the Exchanges did not, and + could not, take direct responsibility as to the wages and + conditions, beyond giving in each case such information as + was in their possession. In regard, however, to Government + contractors, it had been laid down that the piece rates for + women should be the same as for men, and further special + instructions had been given to the Exchanges to inform + inexperienced applicants of the current wages in each case, + so that they should be fully apprised as to the wage which it + was reasonable for them to ask. A general safeguard against + permanent lowering of wages by the admission of women to take + the place of men on service would be made by asking employers, + so far as possible, to keep the men's places open for them on + their return. + +Wages in most cases are at the same rate as men, and as women are +organized in Britain in large numbers, the Trades Unions and Women's +Committees are always alive and ready to act on the question of +payment and conditions. Our workers, men and women, are very well paid +and despite high prices, were never more comfortable, and never saved +more. The call for women to replace men still goes on in Britain. +Miners are going to be combed out again. The Trade Unions have been +again approached by the Premier and Sir Auckland Geddes on this +question of man power. The Battalions must be filled up--in France we +need 2,000,000 men all the time and of these 1,670,000 are from our +own Islands. + +It is calculated there are in Britain today--Ireland is not tapped in +woman power any more than in man power--less than a million women who +could do more important work for the war than they are now doing. +Most of these are already doing work of one kind or another, but could +probably do more. + +Our homes, our industries, munitions, the land, hospitals, Government +service and the Waac's are absorbing us in our millions. Britain could +not have raised her Army and Navy and could not now keep her men in +the field without the mobilization of her women and their ceaseless, +tireless work behind her men, and as substitutes for them, in the +working life of the community. + + + + +WOMEN IN MUNITIONS + + + "For all we have and are, + For all our children's fate-- + Rise up and meet the war, + The Hun is at the gate. + + * * * * * + + "Comfort, content, delight, + The ages' slow-bought gain, + Have shrivelled in a night, + Only ourselves remain. + + * * * * * + + "Though all we knew depart, + The old commandments stand, + In courage keep your heart, + In strength lift up your hand." + + --RUDYARD KIPLING. + + + + +CHAPTER VI + +WOMEN IN MUNITIONS + + "Hats off to the Women of Britain!"--Sir ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE in + _The Times_, November 28, 1916. + + +When war broke out the Government had three National workshops +producing munitions--today it has 100, and it controls over 5,000 +establishments through the Ministry of Munitions, many of which are +continually growing in size. + +The total output has increased over thirty-fold but in many cases +increase in production has been far greater. In guns, the production +of 4.5 field howitzers is over fifty times as large; of machine guns +and howitzers over seventy times and of heavy howitzers (over 6 inch) +over 420 times as large. + +More small shell is now made in a fortnight than formerly in a year, +and the increase in output of heavy shell has been still larger. +Equally striking results have been attained in the production of +machine guns, aeroplanes motor bodies, and the other war supplies, for +which demand and replacement have necessarily grown with the demand +for guns and shells. To these have to be added the ships and the +anti-submarine and anti-aircraft machines and devices that have been +demanded by the enemy's method of warfare. + +This work has only been possible in a country that has raised five +million men, 75 per cent from our own islands, because of what women +have done. + +Today there are between 800,000 and 1,000,000 women in munitions works +in our country, and the history of their entry and work is a wonderful +one. Women themselves were quicker than the Government to realize how +much they would be needed in munitions, and started to train before +openings were ready. + +Women realized vividly what Lloyd George's speech of June, 1915, made +clear, the urgent, terrible need of our men for more munitions--the +Germans could send over ten shells to our one--and women volunteered +in thousands for munition work. + +The London Society for Women's Suffrage, which was running "Women's +Service," had women volunteers for munitions in enormous numbers and +tried to secure openings for them. It investigated and found that +acetylene welders were badly needed. There were very few in Britain, +and welding is essential for aircraft and other work, so they started +to find out if there were classes for training women, and found none +in Technical Schools were open to women. They found welders were +needed very much in certain aircraft factories in the neighborhood of +London and the manager of one assured them that if women were trained +satisfactorily for oxy-acetylene welding, he would give them a trial. +So "Women's Service" decided to open a small workshop and secured Miss +E.C. Woodward, a metal worker of long standing, as instructor. The +school was started in a small way with six pupils. Oxy-acetylene +welding is the most effective way of securing a perfect weld without +any deleterious effect upon the metal. + +The great heat needed for the purpose of uniting two or more pieces of +metal so as to make of them an autogenous whole is obtained, in this +process, by the burning of acetylene gas in conjunction with oxygen. + +Carbide, looking like little lumps of granite, is placed in a tray at +the bottom of the generator for acetylene gas, which is of the form +of a small portable gasometer. The tap, admitting water to the carbide +trays, is turned on, and gas at once generates, and forces up the +generator in the way so familiar to those who often see a gasometer. +This gas passes through a tube to the blow-pipe of the welder, or to +any other use for which it is destined. + +[Illustration: TRAINING WOMEN AS AEROPLANE BUILDERS] + +In oxy-acetylene welding, the process employs the flame produced by +the combustion in a suitable blow-pipe of oxygen and acetylene. When +a light is applied to the nozzle of the pipe a yellow flame, a foot +long, flares up, and in the centre of it, close to the nozzle, appears +a very small, dazzling, bluish flame, which can only safely be gazed +upon by eyes protected by coloured glasses. The temperature of this +flame at the apex is about 6,300 degrees Fahr., and it is with this +that the metals to be welded together are brought to a suitable degree +of heat. + +The workers' eyes are protected by black goggles, their hair confined +by caps or handkerchiefs, and overalls or leather-aprons protect their +clothes from the sparks and also from the smuts which naturally +accrue on surrounding objects. Each welder holds in her right hand the +blow-pipe of the craft, from which depends two long flexible tubes, +one conducting oxygen from the tall cylinder in the corner, and the +other acetylene from the generator. In her left hand she holds the +welding-stick of soft Swedish iron, from which tiny molten drops fall +upon the glowing edges of the metal to be welded together. The work +is fascinating even to the onlooker, and to see the result, metal so +welded you feel it is impossible it ever could have been two pieces, +is still more fascinating. + +The first welders triumphantly passed their tests and gave every +satisfaction in the factory, and the training went on and the School +was enlarged. + +The oxy-acetylene welders turned out by this School have gone all +over the country and 220 were trained and placed in the first year. +Those selected were, with few exceptions, educated women, which was +undoubtedly a material factor in the success of their work. This +School opened training to women and welding is now taught to women in +many of our Technical Schools. A class in Elementary Engineering has +also been carried on by Women's Service with great success and the +women placed in workshops. + +The Ministry of Munitions has also arranged, in conjunction with the +London County Council and other Educational Authorities, to have +free munition training for women at every centre in the Kingdom. The +courses vary from six to nine weeks and maintenance grants are paid +during the period of training. + +In October, 1915, the Central Labour Supply Committee which dealt +with women's and men's conditions, issued certain recommendations +in Circular L.2. These dealt with the conditions and rates of pay +of women and fully skilled and unskilled men. The provision of this +much-discussed circular that affected women doing skilled work was +in Clause 1, which provides that "Women employed on work customarily +done by fully skilled tradesmen shall be paid the time rates of the +tradesman whose work they undertake." + +These provisions were then only binding on the Government +establishments, and could not be enforced by the Ministry of Munitions +in controlled establishments. On December 31, 1915, a conference +was held between the Prime Minister, the Minister of Munitions and +representatives of the Amalgamated Society of Engineers, when an +agreement in regard to "dilution" was arranged. Circular L. 2 was +adopted at this conference as the basis of the undertaking given by +the Ministry in regard to dilution of labor. An employer under it can +be punished as contravening the Munitions Act if he fails to carry out +the direction of the Minister. The power of enforcing the provisions +of L. 2 were acquired in January, 1916, and it is quite obvious that +in this circular a principle of the greatest importance to men and +women is laid down. Women were wholly averse to being "blacklegs" in +industry. + +The great work of "Dilution" in Munitions--and by dilution we mean +the use in industry of unskilled, semi-skilled and woman labor, so +that highly skilled men may not be used except for the most important +work--is done by the Dilution Department of the Ministry of Munitions, +which issues Dilution of Labour Bulletins and Process Sheets +periodically, showing the work women are doing. A series of +exhibitions of women's work have also been arranged by the Technical +Section of the Labour Supply Department in all the big towns +in England. In Sheffield over 16,000 people came to see the +Exhibition--the largest number of these being foremen and workmen sent +by their firms. + +[Illustration: RIVETTING ON BOILERS] + +[Illustration: FACING BOILER BLUE FLANGES] + +The Exhibitions consist of two main sections, one of which shows +actual samples of munitions made by women, and the other of +photographs of women doing work on apparatus or processes that could +not be shown. A complete Clerget engine, for instance, was lent by the +Air Board to illustrate the final assembly of the numerous parts of +these engines being made wholly or partly by women. In the same way, +many parts of complete Stokes Guns, Vickers Machine Guns and Service +Rifles were exhibited. The exhibits were divided into fifteen groups. +The first group dealing with engines for aircraft. The second group +showed engines for motor cars, tanks, tractors, motor buses, motor +lorries and motor vehicles. + +A separate group consisted of a variety of accessories for internal +combustion engines, including air pump for the Clerget engine, which +is completely manufactured and assembled by women, largely under women +supervision; and magnetos, a very important and accurate industry, +before the war largely in German hands, of which women now undertake +the entire manufacture. + +The fourth group dealt with steam engines, including details of +locomotives, high speed engines, steam winches, and steam turbines. + +The next two groups dealt respectively with guns and components and +with small arms. + +The next three groups included gauges, drills, cutters, punches and +dies, trucks, jigs, tap pieces and general tool-room work. The gauges +included plug, ring, cylinder and screw gauges to the closest degrees +of accuracy, which in practice are verified by the rigid inspection of +the National Physical Laboratory. + +A fair illustration of the accuracy that is habitually required in a +large volume of work is to be seen in the final gauging and inspection +of a screw gauge for a fuse, in which the women inspectors were +described in the catalogue as examining these screws by an optical +projection apparatus, magnifying fifty times, with the help of which +the inspector notes the defects in size and form, and the necessary +corrections. + +The cutting tools included sets of cutters for the manufacture of +shells, as well as twist drills, reamers, milling cutters, gear +cutters, screwing dies, taps and lathe tools. Some of this work is +of high accuracy, and a set of solid screwing dies has the particular +interest that almost all the operations are carried out by women after +they have been in the shop for a fortnight. The general tool-room +work included an exhibit of seventy-one punches and dies for cartridge +making. Another set of dies was shown for small-arms ammunition, and +specimens were also exhibited of chucks, die-heads and other work. + +Two other groups dealt with the metal fittings and wooden structural +parts of aircraft, and to see girls work on these is intensely +interesting--anything more fragile looking and more beautiful than the +long uncovered wing it would be difficult to find. A notable feature +of the metal group was a number of parts that are marked off from +drawings by women working under a woman charge-hand, and themselves +making their own scribing-templates when necessary. Many examples of +welding work were also shown. + +There were Optical Munitions and medical and surgical glass and X-ray +tubes made entirely by women, and the Exhibitions record the progress +of women in Munitions in the most wonderful and striking way. + +Mr. Ben. H. Morgan, Chief Officer, in a recent speech on Munitions and +Production said: + + "Labor had to be found to staff the thousands of factories in + which this stupendous production was to be carried out, and it + has been possible to find it only by subdividing work closely, + and entrusting a large variety of machinery and fitting to + women, with the help of the fullest possible equipment of jigs + and all available appliances for mechanically defining and + facilitating the work, and of instruction by skilled men. + By this means an output has been obtained that will compare + favorably with that of any class of workers in any country. + Comparing, for instance, our women's figures of output on + certain sizes of shell and types of fuses with those of men in + the United States, I found recently that the women's machining + times were not only as good but in many cases better than + those of men in some of the best organized American shops. + + "This is an extraordinary result to have been obtained from + women who, for the most part, had never known either the work + or the discipline of factory life, and were wholly unused + to mechanical operations. More than one circumstance has + doubtless contributed to making it possible; but it is my + assured conviction that foremost among the incentives by + which women have been helped has been their constant thought + of their flesh and blood, their husbands, brothers, sons, + sweethearts, in the trenches. I know a typical example in a + Yorkshire mother, who early in the war sent her only son to + the fighting line. The lad was a skilled mechanic, and she + took his place at his lathe in the Leeds shops where he + worked. She is not only keeping this job going, but her output + on the job she is doing is a record for the whole country." + +The women workers' productions has been admirable and is steady +and continues so. The _Manchester Guardian_ of November 15, 1915, +astounded women and men alike by its announcement that "figures were +produced in proof of the very startling assertion that the output of +the women munition workers is slightly more than double that of men." + +In the latest Dilution of Labour Bulletin this is recorded: + +"A GOOD BEGINNING + + "A firm in the London and South Eastern district making + propellers for aeroplanes has recently begun the employment of + women, and the results are exceeding all expectations. As an + instance it is reported that five women are now doing the work + of scraping, formerly done by six men, with an increase of 70 + per cent in output." + +The way in which managers, foremen and skilled men have trained and +helped the women and work with them cannot be too highly praised--the +success of "dilution"--the ability of women to help their country in +this way, was only possible through the good will and co-operation of +our great Trade Unions and skilled men. + +Women supervisors and examiners are trained at Woolwich, and the first +of these were found by "Women's Service," and we find women control +and manage large numbers of women in the big works extremely well. +One girl of twenty-three, the daughter of a famous engineer, is +controlling the work of 6,000 women who are working on submarines, +guns, aircraft, and all manner of munitions. + +One great engineer who believes in women and women's future in +engineering has started what we might term an engineering college for +women. + +He has built a model factory away in the hills "somewhere in Scotland" +with four tiers of ferro-cement floors. It is built with the idea of +taking 300 women students and eight months after it opened, it had +sixty women students. It is a factory entirely for women, run by, +and to a large extent managed by women, with the exception of two men +instructors. In the ground floor the girls are working at parts of +high power aeroplane engines, under their works superintendent, a +woman who took her Mathematical Tripos at Newnham College, and was +lecturer at one of our girls' public schools. The women rank as +engineer apprentices and their hours are forty-four a week. The first +six months are probationary with pay at 20/- ($5) a week, and the +students are doing extremely well. + +"Women are now part and parcel of our great army," said the Earl of +Derby, on July 13, 1916, "without them it would be impossible for +progress to be made, but with them I believe victory can be assured." + +[Illustration: ROUGH TURNING JACKET FORGING OF 6-POUNDER, HOTCHKISS +GUN] + +Mr. Asquith, too, has paid his tribute to the woman munition maker +and to others who are doing men's work. In a memorable speech on +the Second Reading of the Special Register Bill, he admitted that +the women of this country have rendered as effective service in the +prosecution of the war as any other class of the community. "It is +true they cannot fight in the gross material sense of going out with +rifles and so forth, but they fill our munition factories, they are +doing the work which the men who are fighting had to perform before, +they have taken their places, they are the servants of the State and +they have aided in the most effective way in the prosecution of the +war." + +Our munition women are in the shipyards, the engineering shops, the +aeroplane sheds, the shell shops, flocking in thousands into the +cities, leaving homes and friends to work in the munition cities we +have built since the war. When our great arsenals and factories empty, +women pour out in thousands. Night and day they have worked as the men +have and it has been no easy or light task. We know that still more +will be demanded of us, but we think, as our four million men do, that +these things are well worth doing for the freedom of the souls of the +nations. + +In the munition factories that feeling and conviction burns like a +flame and the enemy who thinks to demoralize our men and our women by +bombing our homes and our workshops finds the workers, men and women, +only made more determined. + +The women handle high explosives in the "danger buildings" for ten and +a half hours in a shift, making and inserting the detonating fuses, +where a slip may result in their own death and that of their comrades. +Working with T.N.T. they turn yellow--hands and face and hair--and +risk poisoning. They are called the "canary girls," and if you ask why +they do it they will tell you it isn't too much to risk when men risk +everything in the trenches--and sometimes the one they cared for most +is in a grave in France or on some other front, and they "carry on." + +The Prime Minister paid a tribute to munition makers in one of his +speeches when he said: + +"I remember perfectly well when I was Minister of Munitions we had +very dangerous work. It involved a special alteration in one +element of our shells. We had to effect that alteration. If we had +manufactured the whole thing anew it would have involved the loss of +hundreds of thousands of rounds of ammunition at a time when we could +not afford it. But the adaptation of the old element with a fuse is a +very dangerous operation, and there were several fatal accidents. It +was all amongst the women workers in the munition factories; there +was never a panic. They stuck to their work. They knew the peril. They +never ran away from it." + + + + +THE PROTECTION OF WOMEN IN INDUSTRY + + + "Are our faces grave, and our eyes intent? + Is every ounce that is in us bent + On the uttermost pitch of accomplishment? + _Though it's long and long the day is._ + Ah! we know what it means if we fool or slack; + --A rifle jammed--and one comes not back; + And we never forget--it's for us they gave. + And so we will slave, and slave, and slave, + Lest the men at the front should rue it. + Their all they gave, and their lives we'll save, + If the hardest of work can do it;-- + _Though it's long and long the day is._" + + --JOHN OXENHAM. + + + + +CHAPTER VII + +THE PROTECTION OF WOMEN IN INDUSTRY + + +The Ministry of Munitions has a great department devoted to the work +of looking after our workers' interests. + +This department of the Ministry was established by Mr. Lloyd George. +Mr. Rowntree, whose work is so well known, was put in charge. + +The health of the Munition Workers' Committee was set up when the +Ministry was established with the concurrence of the Home Secretary, +"To consider and advise on questions of industrial fatigue, hours of +labor, and other matters affecting the personal health and physical +efficiency of workers in munition factories and work shops." + +Sir George Newman, M.D., is chairman of the committee and the two +women members are Mrs. H.J. Tennant and Miss R.E. Squire. Memoranda +on various industrial problems have been drawn up by the committee and +acted upon--the first being on Sunday labour. + +In the early part of the war our men and women frequently worked +seven days in the week and shifts were very long for women as for +men. Practically no holidays were taken in answer to Lord Kitchener's +appeals. The regulations preventing women from working on Sunday had +been removed in a limited number of cases. The investigation of the +committee in November, 1915, showed that Sunday labor when it meant +excessive hours was bad and it did not increase output, that the +strain on foremen and managers in particular was very great, and they +recommended a modification of the policy. + +In a later Memorandum, No. 12, on output in relation to hours of work, +very interesting figures were given, practically all showing increased +output as a result of shorter hours of labor. + +The committee reported in Memorandum No. 5 that it was of the opinion +that continuous work by women in excess of the normal legal limit of +sixty hours per week ought to be discontinued as soon as practicable, +and that the shift system should be used instead of overtime. + +A special Memorandum, No. 4, was entirely concerned with the +employment of women and dealt with hours, conditions, rest and meals, +management and supervision, and it strongly urged every precaution and +protection for women. + +The Welfare Department meantime had started on its work of securing, +training and appointing Welfare Supervisors, Miss Alleyne looking +after that branch of the work. + +The Department was "charged, with the general responsibility of +securing a high standard of conditions" for the workers. + +The growth of the work has been enormous. The Ministry of Munitions +today has large numbers of Welfare Supervisors with every Government +establishment and the controlled establishments have them also. +In Government shops they are paid by the Ministry, in controlled +establishments by the management and their appointment is notified to +the Welfare Department. + +The Ministry has issued a leaflet on "Duties of Welfare Supervisors +for Women," which is given at the end of this chapter. + +It will be seen that the Welfare Worker must be a rather wonderful +person. She must be tactful, know how to handle girls, and be a person +of judgment and decision. We have succeeded in securing a very large +number of admirable women and excellent work is being done. The +Welfare Workers are in their turn inspected by Welfare Inspectors and +Miss Proud, the Chief Inspector in dangerous factories, who sees the +precautions against risk of poisoning from Tri-nitro-toluol, Tetryl, +the aeroplane wing dope, etc., are all carried out by the management, +has written an admirable textbook on welfare work. The country for +this purpose is divided into nine areas, and two women inspectors work +in each. + +Woolwich Arsenal is one of our great centres of women's work and +the Chief Welfare Supervisor there, Miss Lilian Barker, is the most +capable woman Supervisor in Britain, a statesman among Supervisors. +Any visitor to the Arsenal cannot help being struck by the general +impression of contentment, happiness and health of the woman worker +there in her thousands. It is rare to see a sickly face among them, +even among the girls in the Danger Zone. Miss Barker is constantly +adding to her own staff of supervisors and training others for +provincial centres. She and her Assistants interview new hands +and arrange changes and transfers of women. She enquires into +all complaints, advises as to clothing, keeps an eye on the vast +canteen organization of Woolwich, and initiates schemes for +recreation--notices of whist drives, dances and concerts are +constantly up on the boards. The housing of the immigrant workers--no +small problem, she and her assistants deal with. They suggest +improvements in conditions and are awake to signs of illness or +overfatigue. They follow the worker home and look after the young +mother and the sick girl and women. + +Hostels have been built there and all over the country by the +Government and by factory owners, and the Hostel Supervisors have a +big and useful work to do. + +They are very well arranged with a room for each girl and nice rest +rooms, dining rooms and good sickroom accommodations. Rules are cut +down to a minimum. Most Supervisors find out ways of working without +them. + +"Smoking is allowed at this end of the restroom," said one +Superintendent, "but since we have permitted this recreation, it seems +to have fallen out of favour," which seems to show munition girls are +very human. + +Hutments have also been built for married couples. Lodgings are +inspected and when suitable, scheduled for workers coming to the area. +In some cases the management in private factories do not adopt formal +welfare workers but get a woman of the right type and put her in +charge of the female operatives, with generally excellent results. +The value of the influence of this work on our girls cannot be +over-estimated--it is an influence of the very best kind, and our +experiences in munition and welfare work, every class of women working +together, is going to be of great and permanent good. + +[Illustration: AN OFFICIAL BOOKLET FOR MUNITION WORKERS] + +The professional woman and the girls who flock to London in large +numbers for work in Government Departments, must be housed also, and +there are many extremely good Hostels. Bedford House, the old Bedford +College for Women, is now a delightful Hostel run by the Y.W.C.A., +whose work for munition girls deserves very special mention. They had +Hostels over the country before the war and have added to these. They +have set up Clubs all over the country for the girls in munitions and +industry in 150 centres, and these are very much appreciated and used +by thousands of girls. + +The feeding of the munition worker is another great piece of work. +It started, like so many of our things, in voluntary effort. The +conditions of the men and women working all night and without any +possibility of getting anything warm to eat and drink and, exhausted +with their heavy work, made people feel something must be done, and +the first efforts were to send round barrows with hot tea and coffee +and sandwiches, etc. More and more it was realized that the provision +of proper meals for the workers, men and women, was indispensable for +the maintenance of output on which our fighting forces depended for +their very lives--and the Government, the Y.M.C.A., the Y.W.C.A. and +various other agencies, started to establish canteens. The Y.W.C.A. +alone in its canteens serves 80,000 meals a week. Large numbers of +private firms have established their own canteens. + +The Health of Munition Workers Committee reported, in November, 1915, +that it was extremely desirable to establish canteens in every factory +in which it would be useful. Many canteens existed before the war, +but they have been added to enormously and the recommendations of the +committee as to accessibility, attractiveness, form, food and service +carried out. + +The Canteen Committee of the Liquor Control Board who have looked +after this work have issued an admirable official pamphlet, "Feeding +the Munition Worker," in which plans for construction and all details +are given. An ideal canteen should always provide facilities for the +worker to heat his or her own food. + +The prices are very reasonable, and in most cases only cover cost of +food and service, soup and bread is 4 cents--cut from joint and two +vegetables, 12 to 16 cents. + + Puddings, 2 to 4 cents, + Bread and cheese, 3 to 4 cents, + Tea, coffee and cocoa, 2 cents a cup, + +and a variety is arranged in the week's menu. + +The Y.W.C.A. Huts are very popular. In some of them the girls get +dinners for 10 cents, and the dinner includes joint, vegetables and +pudding. + +There are comfortable chairs in them in which girls can rest and +attractive magazines and books to read in the little restrooms. The +workers in charge of these canteens are educated women and the waiting +and service is done by voluntary helpers. There is not only excellent +feeding for our workers in these canteens, but there is great economy +in food and fuel. To cook 400 dinners together is much less wasteful +than to cook them separately, and the cooks in these are generally +trained economists. + +The children, too, are not forgotten. Our welfare workers follow the +young mother home and find out if the children are all right and well +taken care of. We have done even more in the war than before for +our babies and the infant death rate is falling. We have established +excellent creches and nurseries where they are needed. + +It is impossible to overestimate the value of all this work in +industry. The Prime Minister, speaking last year on this subject, +said, "It is a strange irony, but no small compensation, that the +making of weapons of destruction should afford the occasion to +humanize industry. Yet such is the case. Old prejudices have vanished, +new ideas are abroad; employers and workers, the public and the State, +are all favourable to new methods. The opportunity must not be allowed +to slip. It may well be that, when the tumult of war is a distant echo +and the making of munitions a nightmare of the past, the effort now +being made to soften asperities, to secure the welfare of the workers, +and to build a bridge of sympathy and understanding between employer +and employed, will have left behind results of permanent and enduring +value to the workers, to the nation and to mankind at large." + +I am no believer in the gloomy predictions of industrial revolutions +after the war. We will have revolutions--but of the right kind and one +thing has been clearly shown, that the workers of our country are +not only loyal citizens but realize every issue of this conflict as +vividly as anyone else. On their work, men and women, our Navy, our +Army and our country, have depended--and they have not failed us in +any real thing. + + +MINISTRY OF MUNITIONS. + + + +DUTIES OF WELFARE SUPERVISORS FOR WOMEN. + +(Sometimes called EMPLOYMENT SUPERINTENDENTS.) + + + + NOTE.--It is not suggested that all these duties should be + imposed upon the Employment Superintendent directly she is + appointed. The size of the Factory will to a certain extent + determine the scope of her work, and in assigning her duties + regard will of course be had to her professional ability to + cope with them. + + These officers are responsible solely to the firms that employ + them, and in no sense to the Ministry of Munitions. + + + +The experience which has now been obtained in National and other +Factories making munitions of war has demonstrated that the post of +Welfare Supervisor is a valuable asset to Factory management wherever +women are employed. Through this channel attention has been drawn to +conditions of work, previously unnoted, which were inimical to the +well-being of those employed. The following notes have, therefore, +been prepared for the information of employers who have not hitherto +engaged such officers, but who desire to know the position a Welfare +Supervisor should take and the duties and authority which, it is +suggested, might be delegated to her. + + +POSITION. + +It has generally been found convenient that the Welfare Supervisor +should be directly responsible to the General Manager, and should be +given a definite position on the managerial staff in connection with +the Labour Employment Department of the Factory. She is thus able to +refer all matters calling for attention direct to the General Manager, +and may be regarded by him as a liaison between him and the various +Departments dealing with the women employees. + + +DUTIES. + +The duty of a Welfare Supervisor is to obtain and to maintain a +healthy staff of workers and to help in maintaining satisfactory +conditions for the work. + +In order to obtain a staff satisfactory both from the point of view of +health and technical efficiency, it has been found to be an advantage +to bring the Welfare Supervisor into the business of selecting women +and girls for employment. + + +I. THE OBTAINING OF A HEALTHY STAFF. + +Her function is to consider the general health, physical capacity and +character of each applicant. As regards those under 16 years of +age, she could obtain useful advice as to health from the Certifying +Surgeon when he grants Certificates of fitness. The Management can, if +they think fit, empower her to refer for medical advice to their panel +Doctor, other applicants concerning whose general fitness she is in +doubt. This selection of employees furnishes the Welfare Supervisor +with a valuable opportunity for establishing a personal link with the +workers. + +Her function is thus concerned with selection on general grounds, +while the actual engaging of those selected may be carried out by the +Overlooker or other person responsible for the technical side of +the work. In this way both aspects of appointment receive full +consideration. + +The Management may find further that it is useful to consult the +Welfare Supervisor as to promotions of women in the Factory, thus +continuing the principle of regarding not only technical efficiency +but also general considerations in the control of the women in the +Factory. + + +II. THE MAINTAINING OF A HEALTHY STAFF. + +The Welfare Supervisor should ascertain what are the particular needs +of the workers. These needs will then be found to group themselves +under two headings: + + (a) Needs within the Factory--Intramural Welfare. + + (b) Needs outside the Factory--Extramural Welfare. + + +INTRAMURAL WELFARE. + +I. SUPERVISION OF WORKING CONDITIONS. + +The Welfare Supervisor may be made responsible for the following +matters: + + (a) _General behaviour of women and girls inside the + factory._--While responsibility for the technical side of + the work must rest with the Technical Staff, the Welfare + Supervisor should be responsible for all questions of general + behaviour. + + (b) _Transfer._--The Welfare Supervisor would, if the health + of a woman was affected by the particular process on which + she is engaged, be allowed, after having consulted the Foreman + concerned, to suggest to the Management the possibility of + transfer of the woman to work more suited to her state of + health. + + (c) _Night Supervision._--The Welfare Supervisor should have + a deputy for night work and should herself occasionally visit + the Factory at night to see that satisfactory conditions are + maintained. + + (d) _Dismissal._--It will be in keeping with the general + suggestions as to the functions of the Welfare Supervisor + if she is consulted on general grounds with regard to the + dismissal of women and girls. + + (e) _The maintenance of healthy conditions._--This implies + that she should, from the point of view of the health of the + female employees, see to the general cleanliness, ventilation + and warmth of the Factory and keep the Management informed of + the results of her observations. + + (f) _The provision of seats._--She should study working + conditions so as to be able to bring to the notice of the + Management the necessity for the provision of seats where + these are possible. + + +II. CANTEEN. + +Unless the Factory is a small one it would hardly be possible for the +Welfare Supervisor to manage the canteen. The Management will probably +prefer to entrust the matter to an expert who should satisfy the +Management in consultation with the Welfare Supervisor on the +following matters:-- + + (1) That the Canteen provides all the necessary facilities for + the women workers; that is to say, suitable food, rapidly and + punctually served. + + (2) That Canteen facilities are provided when necessary for + the women before they begin work so that no one need start + work without having taken food. + + (3) That the Canteen is as restful and as comfortable as + possible so that it serves a double purpose of providing rest + as well as food. + + +III. SUPERVISION OF AMBULANCE RESTROOM AND FIRST AID. + +While not responsible for actually attending to accidents, except +in small Factories, the Welfare Supervisor should work in close +touch with the Factory Doctor and Nurses. She should, however, be +responsible for the following matters:-- + + (1) She should help in the selection of the Nurses, who should + be recognised as belonging to the Welfare staff. + + (2) While not interfering with the Nurses in the professional + discharge of their duties, she should see that their work is + carried out promptly and that the workers are not kept waiting + long before they receive attention. + + (3) She should supervise the keeping of all records of + accident and illness in the Ambulance Room. + + (4) She should keep in touch with all cases of serious + accident or illness. + +It would further be useful if she were allowed to be kept in touch +with the Compensation Department inside the Factory with a view to +advising on any cases of hardship that may arise. + + +IV. SUPERVISION OF CLOAK-ROOMS AND SANITARY CONVENIENCES. + +The Welfare Supervisor should be held responsible for the following +matters:-- + + (1) General cleanliness. + + (2) Prevention of Loitering. + + (3) Prevention of Pilfering. + +The Management will decide what staff is necessary to assist her, and +it should be her duty to report to the Management on these matters. + + +V. PROVISION OF OVERALLS. + +The Welfare Supervisor should have the duty of supervising the +Protective Clothing supplied to the women for their work. + + +EXTRAMURAL WELFARE. + +The Welfare Supervisor should keep in touch with all outside agencies +responsible for:-- + + (1) Housing. + + (2) Transit facilities. + + (3) Sickness and Maternity cases. + + (4) Recreation. + + (5) Day Nurseries. + +In communicating with any of these agencies it will no doubt be +preferable that she should do so through the Management. + + +III. RECORDS. + +_A_. The Welfare Supervisor should for the purpose of her work have +some personal records of every woman employee. If a card-index system +is adopted, a sample card suggesting the necessary particulars which +it is desirable should be kept by Welfare Supervisors is supplied to +employers on request. + +_B_. The Welfare Supervisor should have some way of observing the +health in relation to the efficiency of the workers, and if the +Management approved this could be done: + + (a) By allowing her to keep in touch with the Wages + Department. She could then watch the rise and fall of wages + earned by individual employees from the point of view that + a steady fall in earnings may be the first indication of an + impending breakdown in health. + + (b) By allowing her to keep in touch with the Time Office she + should be able to obtain records of all reasons for lost time. + From such records information can be obtained of sickness, + inadequate transit and urgent domestic duties, which might + otherwise not be discovered. Here again, if a card-index + system is adopted a sample card for this purpose can be + obtained from the Welfare and Health Section on request. + + (c) By keeping records of all cases of accident and sickness + occurring in the Factory. Sample Ambulance Books and Accident + Record Cards can also be obtained from the Welfare and Health + Section. + + + + +"THE WOMEN'S LAND ARMY" + + + "If it were not for the women, agriculture would be at an + absolute standstill on many farms in England and Wales today." + + --_President of the Board of Agriculture._ + + + + +CHAPTER VIII + +"THE WOMEN'S LAND ARMY" + + +The Land Army of Women, which now numbers over 258,300 whole and +part-time workers, has done splendid work. For some years before the +war women had been very little used on the land in certain parts of +England and Wales. In Scotland and in some of the English counties +there had always been, and still were, quite fair numbers of women on +the land. + +Within eighteen months of the outbreak of war, about 300,000 +agricultural laborers had enlisted and the work had been carried on +with difficulty by the farmer in the first year of the war. The farmer +secured all the labor he could, old men returned to help, and the army +released skilled men temporarily, from training, to help. Soldiers +were used in groups for seasonal work, the farmer paying a good rate +for them. Groups of women were also organized for seasonal work by +various voluntary organizations, two of these being the Land Council +and the Women's National Land Service Corps. The Women's Farm and +Garden Union also did good work. The Land Service Corps made one of +its most important objects the organization of village women into +working gangs under leaders. One interesting piece of work undertaken +by the Corps last year was finding a large number of women for +flax-pulling in Somerset. This the Flax-Growers' Association asked +them to do as sufficient local labor could not be raised. The War +Agricultural Committee made all the local arrangements. This was +pioneer work of great value and importance as flax is essential in the +making of aeroplane wings. + +The Corps sent a group of 100 women under competent gang leaders. +The workers were housed in an empty country house and the War Office +provided bedding. The Y.W.C.A. undertook the catering at the request +of the Corps. The work, which was a great success, consisted in +pulling, gating, wind mowing, stocking and tying flax. + +The Corps has already been asked to undertake this again next year. +Owing to the Russian troubles and the closing of the Port of Riga, it +will be necessary to put many more hundreds of acres under cultivation +and it is probable four or five times as many women will be needed +next year. + +Some of the Corps members are doing good work in Army Remount Depots, +working in the stables and exercising the horses. One of the latest +interesting developments of women's work is in the care of sick +horses, carried out in the Horse Hospital in London. + +Within nine months of the outbreak of war, it was clear we must secure +help for the farmers, in order to enable them to do their work. As the +submarine menace developed, and the supply of grain in the world was +affected by the numbers of men taken away from production, it was +clear we must try to grow more food. + +Our grain production at the best was only twelve weeks of our supply, +and even to keep up to that seemed to be a problem. + +It was clear that in agriculture, as in so many other things, women +must fill up the ranks, and in the first official appeal of the +Government for additional woman labor, the land had an important +place. + +Lord Selborne, President of the Board of Agriculture, drew up a +scheme for the organization of agriculture throughout the country. +It consisted of War Agricultural Committee set up in each county who +look after production, use of land, procuring use of motor machinery, +etc., and of Women's Agricultural Committees. The latter undertake the +organization of securing women workers for the land, choosing them, +and arranging for training and placing out. + +The voluntary groups of women who have been working at the problem in +the war are now practically all merged in the Board of Agriculture's +organization. The Women's Branch of the Food Production Department +now controls and arranged the whole work and Miss Meriel Talbot is the +able chief. + +The Women's Land Corps, like the other organizations, was prepared to +be merged in the new Land Army of the Board and to cease to exist as a +separate organization. Its members were willing to become part of the +new Land Army. + +The Board found there was a distinct need for a voluntary association +which would continue to enroll women, who could not sign on for the +duration of the war, and who were able to forego the benefits of free +training, outfit and travelling given under the Government scheme. +Over 100 members of the Corps did enroll and the original Corps +members do not require to appear before the local Selection Committees +nor to submit references, which marks the Board's confidence in the +Corps. + +Many of the Corps Workers are now organizing Secretaries for the +Counties or Assistant Secretaries, or are travelling Inspectors under +the Board of Agriculture. + +The Corps still organizes the supply of temporary workers for seasonal +jobs such as potato dropping, hoeing, harvesting, fruitpicking, potato +and root lifting, etc., done by groups under leaders. The work of +organizing in the Counties is carried out by the appointment of a +woman as District representative. She is responsible for a general +supervision of the work in all the villages in her district. Each +village has a woman to act as Registrar and her duty (with assistants, +if necessary) is to canvass all the village women and girls for +volunteers for whole and part time work, and for training, and to +canvass the farmer to find out what labour he needs, and in the +beginning they had to induce him to use women. She puts the farmer and +the women suitable for his needs in her own district, in touch with +each other, and passes to the District Representative and to the +Employment Exchanges the names of all women qualified to help and not +placed, and of those willing to train. + +All these committees, registrars and representatives are honorary +workers. The Board of Agriculture appoints to each County for work +with the committee a woman Organizing Secretary, and assistant also +if necessary. + +The Board of Agriculture, working through the Employment Exchanges +and under the direction of their women heads, arranged a series of +meetings and work of propaganda by posters and leaflets throughout +the whole country early in 1916. + +The Representatives and Registrars organized the meetings to which +the farmers and the women were invited, and the whole scheme was +explained. These were very frequently held in the market towns on +market day and the farmer and his wife came in to hear after the +sales. We had to assail the prejudices of some of our farmers pretty +vigorously and of the women, too. We found the women who volunteered +best for land work were in the class above the industrial worker, and +that the comfortable and well educated woman stood its work admirably. + +The farmers were stiff to move in some cases and especially disliked +the idea of having to train the women. "They weren't going to run +after women all day--they had too much to do to go messing round with +girls!" This objection was met by the Board of Agriculture arranging +training centres in every county. Some of the training was done at the +Women's Agricultural Colleges and among places that arranged training +very early were the Harper Adam's College in Shropshire (Swanley); +Garford (Leeds); Sparsholt (Winchester); The Midland Agricultural +Training College (Kingston), and Aberystwith. + +The Women's Agricultural Committee have arranged a great many training +centres at big farms and on the Home farms of some of our estates. + +The girls volunteering for training must be eighteen years of age. +They are interviewed as to suitability and references by the Selection +Committee. They must have a medical certificate filled in by their own +doctor or by one of the committee's doctors. + +[Illustration: BACK TO THE LAND + +WOMEN TACKLE A STRONG MAN'S PROBLEM] + +On being passed, they go to the training centre, the travelling +expenses being paid by the Board. Outfit is free and the uniform is +a very sensible one of breeches, tunic, boots and gaiters or puttees, +and soft hat, breeches, etc., cut to measure for each girl. Training +and maintenance are free and there is always an instructor on the farm +in addition to the farmer and his workers. The travelling to the post +found, is again paid by the Government, and if work is not found at +once, on completion of training, maintenance is paid till it is. + +The training is generally of four to six weeks' duration and in some +cases longer, and over 7,000 women have been trained in this way and +placed. + +Appeals for land recruits were made in February, 1916, and in January +and April, 1917, when the Women's National Service Department asked +for 100,000 women. + +The Land Army women after three months' service receive an official +armlet--a green band with lion rampant in red and a certificate of +honour. The Land women are the only women who receive an armlet--the +munition girl wears a triangular brass brooch with "On war service." + +To induce the conservative farmer to try the women, exhibitions of +farm work were arranged in different part of the country with great +success, and the girls showed they could plough, and weed and hoe +and milk and care for stock, and do all the farm work, except the +heaviest, extremely well. + +The War Office in its official memorandum of 1916 gives a long list of +the farm and garden work in which women are successfully employed, and +they have been particularly successful in the care of stock. + +The farmer who used to declare he would never have a woman and that +they were no use, and who has them now, is always quite pleased and +generally cherishes a profound conviction that the reason why his +women are all right is because he has the most exceptional ones in the +country. + +Housing the worker and especially the groups for seasonal work has +been a problem, but it has been done and the feeding of groups well +has been managed, too. + +The housing conditions for the girl going to work whole-time are +investigated by the Board organizer, and the representatives of +committee. Very frequently a small group of girls have a cottage on +the farm. + +The Inspectors of the Board are in charge of three counties each and +look after all conditions. + +The girls are now being trained to drive the motor tractors for +ploughing, and for women who understand horses there is at present a +greater demand than supply. + +The Women's Branch of the Board is also at this time appealing +for well-educated women to aid in Timber Supply for two pieces of +work--measuring trees when felled, calculating the amount of wood in +the log, and marking off for sawing, and as forewomen to superintend +cross-cutting, felling small timber and coppice and to do the lighter +work of forestry. + +Girls and women are in market gardens and on private gardens in +very large numbers. The King has a great many women in his gardens +and conservatories. Most estates are growing as many vegetables as +possible to supply the many hospitals and the Fleet, and girls are +helping very much in this. A great deal has been done by work in +allotments, plots of land taken up by town dwellers and cultivated. In +one part of South Wales alone 40,000 allotments have been worked and +the allotment holders are organizing themselves co-operatively for +the purchase of seed, etc. We have Governmental powers now not only to +enable Local Authorities to secure unused land for allotments, but to +compel farmers to cultivate all their ground. We have fixed a price +for wheat for five years, and a minimum wage for the agricultural man +and woman. + +The girls on the land improve in health and increase in weight. The +work is not only of supreme usefulness to the country--we have the +submarine ceaselessly gnawing at our shipping and making our burden +heavier--so we must produce everything possible. It has improved the +physique of our girls--they like it, and many will permanently adopt +it. Our Board of Agriculture is also encouraging, for the benefit of +the country woman, the formation of Women's Institutes, like those in +Canada and America. + +In the Lord Mayor's Procession in London, on November 9, 1917, with +the men-in-arms of all our great Commonwealth of Nations, with the +Turks and the captured German aeroplanes and guns, the munition girls +and the Land girls marched. No group in all that great array had +a warmer welcome from our vast crowds than our sensibly clothed, +healthy, happy and supremely useful Land girls. + + + + +WAR SAVINGS--THE MONEY BEHIND THE GUNS + + +"You cannot have absolute equality of sacrifice in a war. That is +impossible. But you can have equal readiness to sacrifice from all. +There are hundreds of thousands who have given their lives, there are +millions who have given up comfortable homes and exchanged them for +a daily communion with death. Multitudes have given up those whom +they loved best. Let the nation as a whole place its comforts, +its luxuries, its indulgences, its elegances, on a national altar, +consecrated by such sacrifices as these men have made." + + --THE PRIME MINISTER. + +"Deep down in the heart of every one of us there is the spirit of +love for our native land, dulled it may be in some cases, perhaps +temporarily obscured, by hardship, injustice and suffering, but it is +there and it remains for us to touch the chord which will bring it to +life; once aroused it will prove irresistible." + + --Sir R.M. KINDERSLEY, K.B.E. + + + + +CHAPTER IX + +WAR SAVINGS--THE MONEY BEHIND THE GUNS + + +To win the war, we must save. There is no task more imperative, +no need more urgent, and there is no greater work than the work of +educating the peoples of our countries, and inducing them to save and +lend to their Governments. + +The first Government Committee set up in Britain to do propaganda work +for war loans was established shortly after the war under the title +of the "Parliamentary War Savings Committee." It did some propaganda +for the early war loans. At the same time a very interesting group of +people associated with the "Round Table," and including in it many +of our most able financiers and economists--such men as the future +chairman of the National War Savings Committee, Sir Robert M. +Kindersley, K.B.E.; C.J. Stewart, the Public Trustee; Hartley Withers, +Lord Sumner, T.L. Gilmour, Theodore Chambers (now Controller of the +National War Savings Committee), Evan Hughes (now Organizer-in-Chief), +Lieut. J.H. Curle, Countess Ferrers, Basil Blackett, C.B.; William +Schooling and Mrs. Minty, Hon. Sec. Excellent articles were written, +leaflets published and meetings held at which many of us spoke +throughout the country, and valuable work was done towards educating +groups of useful people in the country. + +In 1915 a committee was appointed by the House of Commons to go into +the whole question of Loans and Methods. The committee was presided +over by Mr. E.S. Montagu, and its findings were of great interest. It +advised the immediate setting up of a committee whose task it would be +to create machinery by which the small investor might be assisted to +invest in State Securities, and secondly, to educate the country as +a whole on the imperative need of economy. The Lords Commissioners of +His Majesty's Treasury set up the National War Savings Committee in +March, 1916, and in April, 1917, it became a Government Department. +The first chairman was George Barnes, Esq., M.P., but very soon the +chairmanship was taken by Sir Robert Kindersley, a director of the +Bank of England, who has spent himself unceasingly in his great task. + +The committee started its work with a very small staff, Mr. Schooling +being one of the original half-dozen in it, and the schemes and +methods of work were evolved. It works in its organization by setting +up committees. The County is the biggest unit and the Hon. Secretary +of the County works at setting up Local Committees, which are +established in towns with under 20,000 of a population, and we put +a group of parishes together in rural districts under one Local +Committee. All towns, cities and boroughs over 20,000 population are +set up by Headquarters and have Local Central Committees. There are +now in England and Wales over 1,580 of these committees. Scotland +is worked by a separate committee. Linked up to these committees and +represented on them, the War Savings Associations work, and there are +now altogether over 40,000 of these with a weekly subscribing +membership of over 7,000,000 people. + +[Illustration: 6 REASONS + Why YOU Should Save + +1. Because when you save you help our soldiers and sailors. + +2. Because when you spend on things you do not need you help the +Germans. + +3. Because when you spend you make other people work for you, and the +work of every one is wanted now to help our fighting men to win the +war, or to produce necessaries and to make goods for export. + +4. Because by confining your spending to necessaries you relieve the +strain on our ships and docks and railways and make transport cheaper +and quicker. + +5. Because when you spend you make things dearer for everyone, +especially for those who are poorer than yourself. + +6. Because every shilling saved helps twice, first when you don't +spend it and again when you lend it to the Matron. + +POSTER ISSUED BY NATIONAL WAR SAVINGS COMMITTEE] + +The committees also did the propaganda work for the January-February +Loan of 1917, when five billion dollars was raised (L1,000,000,000) +and over eight million people (out of our population of forty-five +millions) subscribed to the loan. + +The work of the committees was admirable at that time and assisted +materially in the success of the loan. + +The National War Savings Committee was also asked by Lord Devonport in +April to assist the Ministry of Food by doing, through its committees, +a great food-saving propaganda. This request was made, because, it was +explained, the War Savings Committees are the best organized and most +thoroughly democratic Government organization in the country. This +propaganda was also done with marked success. In autumn of this year +the committees have done an extensive campaign of education, and of +work to strengthen and enlarge their associations, and also to push +the sale of the new War Bonds. + +The Treasury's policy now is to raise all the money needed by the +wisest borrowing from the people--day by day borrowing. + +The entire work of the committees and associations is done +voluntarily--nothing is paid in the whole country for the work, and +the only charge is Headquarters Staff and propaganda expenses. The +County Secretaries are in most cases Board of Education Inspectors +whom the Board has generously allowed to help. + +The War Saving Association is the body that sells the War Savings +Certificates, which are very much like the American ones. These are +also sold at all Post Offices and Banks. They cost 15/6 each, and in +five years from date of purchase are worth L1. The interest in the +fifth year is at the rate of L5.4.7 per cent. The interest begins at +the end of the first year and the certificates can be cashed at any +time at the Post Office with interest to the date of cashing. The War +Savings Certificate has the additional advantage that its interest +is free of income tax, and in a country where income tax begins above +L120 ($600), and is then at rate of 2/3 in L1 (over 10 per cent) on +earned income and 3/. on unearned, its advantage is very clear. The +interest does not need to be included in income returns--but no one +may buy more than 500 certificates. It is a specially good paying +security intended only for the small saver. + +The War Savings Associations can be set up by any group of people, +ten or upwards, who wish to save co-operatively. They must establish a +committee, small or large. They must appoint a Secretary and Treasurer +and then apply for recognition to their Local Committee, or if there +is not one, to the National Committee. They are given an affiliation +certificate by their committee and receive free all the books, papers, +etc., necessary for carrying on an association. These are all supplied +by the National Committee to Local Committees. + +The 40,000 Associations are in the Army, Navy, Munition Works, +Government establishments, Railways, Banks, Mines, Churches, Shops, +social groups, clubs, men's and women's organizations and 10,000 are +in the schools. The schools, where we receive subscriptions down to +2 cents have done wonderful work and the teachers have done a great +deal to make our movement what it is. We find the children do the best +propaganda in the homes. One teacher, after explaining to his children +what it all meant in the morning, in the afternoon had dozens of +subscriptions, and among them a sovereign which had been clasped +tightly in a hot little hand for a mile and a half's walk. The little +boy said, "I told Mother about it and she gave me that for fighting +the Germans." + +Our Associations have unearthed piles of gold, one village association +alone getting in L750 in gold ($3,750). Old stockings have come +out and one agricultural laborer brought nine sovereigns to one of +our Secretaries one night, and asked her to invest it to help the +soldiers. She said, "Why did you bring it to me?" and he said, +"Because its secreter than the Post Office." And the Association +has the advantage that all its affairs are confidential, and though +figures and amounts are known, no single detail need be. + +The schemes are two and apart from schools, the minimum weekly +subscription is 12 cents. There is a Bank Book scheme and a Stamp +scheme in which the member holds a card which takes thirty-one 12-cent +stamps, and when filled up is handed in to the Secretary and a War +Savings Certificate is received. + +The financial advantage to the members of forming an Association is +quite easy to understand. Every week the takings are invested by the +Secretary (using a special slip given by the National Committee) in +War Savings Certificates, so that when members finish subscribing +for a certificate, instead of getting one dated the day they finished +paying for it, as it would be if they saved by themselves, the +Secretary has a store of earlier dated certificates on hand, and the +member receives one of these. + +This works out quite fairly if one rule is observed--never give any +one a Certificate dated earlier than the first week they started +paying for it. + +The people of England needed a great deal of education in war saving. +We had to fight the strongly held conviction that of all sins the most +despicable is "meanness," and that too much saving may seem mean. + +No Englishman will ever really admit he has any money, and he was +inclined to question your right to talk about the possibility of his +having some--and your right to tell him what to do with it, supposing +he had any. Some of them were a little suspicious that it was the +workers we were talking to most--it was not--and some of them were not +quite sure they wanted their employers to know how much they saved. +That is entirely obviated by the men running their own associations. +Other people told you the people in their District never did, +could, or would save and were spending their big wages in the most +extravagant way--that pianos and fur coats appealed far more than +war savings certificates. The official people in the towns when we +approached them about conferences said much the same in some cases, +but, yes, of course, you could come and have a conference and the +Mayor would preside and you could try. And you did, and in six months +they had dozens of associations and thousands of members and had sold +some thousands of certificates. We sell about one and a half million +certificates a week and have sold about 140 millions since March, +1916. The appeal that won them was not only the practical appeal of +the value of the money after the war for themselves, to buy a house, +to provide for old age, to educate the children. The strongest appeal +was the patriotic one. Save your money to save your country. Throw +your silver bullets at the enemy. We have not been content to say only +"save," we have tried to educate our people on finance and economics. +We have tried to show them that no country can go on in a struggle +like this unless it conserves its resources--not even the richest +countries. We have tried to appeal to the spirit behind all these +things and our Chairman in one of his admirable speeches said: + +"It is upon these simple human feelings of loyalty, comradeship and +patriotism that the great War Savings Movement is founded. Because of +the strength of this foundation I feel convinced that we shall succeed +in the great national work we are setting out to perform. However +difficult our task may prove, however serious the times ahead, this +spirit will carry us safely and triumphantly through everything, and +in the end we shall find ourselves not weakened but strengthened +on account of these same difficulties which we shall most surely +overcome." + +The problem before us is the problem of finding ten times the amount +of money we did before the war for National purposes. We are spending +over $30,000,000 a day. By our taxations, which includes an 80 per +cent tax on excess profits, we are raising over 25 per cent of our +total expenditure. We have met some other part of our expenditure in +the three years of war by using our gold reserve very heavily; a great +deal of it in payments in America, where you now possess more than a +third of the gold of the entire world. We have also used a portion of +our securities, our capital wealth and past savings, and we have had +to borrow heavily. Our National Debt is now L4,000,000,000. It was +L700,000,000 at the outbreak of war. L1,000,000,000 has been lent to +our Allies and the Dominions. + +Numbers of people have an impression that Governments can find money. +They can, to a certain extent, but only in a very limited way, without +great harm. There is in this creation an addition to the buying power +of the community, but if everybody goes on spending no addition to +the productive power, so it only creates high prices and hardship. The +inflation of currency caused by it is a risk and an evil. The sound +way is to get the money by taxation, from resources and in real +voluntary loans. + +America's burden is very much the same as our own, and the need +here also of voluntary saving and lending to the extent of more than +half the expenditure is clear. America, like ourselves, is very +wisely trying to democratise its war loans. Nothing is wiser or +sounder or more calculated to make progress, and the changes after +the war which will come, sound and steady than widely-spread, +democratically-subscribed loans. These vast debts will have to be +paid by the ability, productiveness and work of all, so it is in the +highest degree desirable that the money and interest to be paid back +should go out to every class of the community--and not only to small +sections. It is well to remember, too, that the country that goes +to the peace table financially sound is in a position to make better +terms. + +[Illustration: ONE OF THE POSTERS RECENTLY ISSUED BY THE NATIONAL WAR +SAVINGS COMMITTEE] + +But the purely financial side of war savings is not the most important +one. We talk in terms of money but the reality is not money but goods +and services. The problem before our Governments and the problem +that cannot be left to our children (though the debts incurred in +securing the credits may be) is the problem of finding every day over +$30,000,000 worth of material and labour for the struggle. War savings +among the people is not only essential to secure the money needed--it +is far more essential from the point of view of securing the cutting +down of the consumption of goods and labour by our peoples. + +Economists in peace time argue over what is termed "luxury" +expenditure, the wasteful expenditure of peace. War expenditure may +be correctly termed wasteful to a very great extent, and no country +can carry both of these expenditures and remain solvent. Luxury +expenditure should be entirely eliminated and the material and labour +which was absorbed by it should go into the war. If this could be +done completely, little damage would be done to the nation's economic +position. The thing to be clearly realized is that all the productive +effort of the nation is needed for three things--the carrying on of +the war--the production of necessaries and the manufacture of goods +for export. Every civilian who uses material and labour unnecessarily +makes these tasks harder and goes into the markets as an unfair +competitor of the Government. Every man and woman who saves five +dollars and lends it to their country give their country what is far +more important than the five dollars. They transfer to the Government +the five dollars worth of material and labour they could have used up +if they had spent it on themselves and that is its real value. This +means the needful purchases of the State are substituted for, instead +of added to, the purchases of the civilian. + +Further, the influence of economy in preventing undue inflation of +currency and consequent high prices should be realized. A certain +amount of high prices in war is inevitable but if civilians buy +extravagantly, competition becomes intense and prices rise beyond all +need. The supplies are limited--in our case that is greatly added +to by the submarine menace--and the demands of the Government are +enormous. The competition between the Government and the people grows +more and more intense. Prices go still higher. The Government pays +more than it should and so do the people. Higher wages are demanded +with consequent higher prices, and so you get a vicious circle that +gets more and more dangerous. If the civilian will relieve this +pressure by demanding less, and cutting down his expenditure, prices +will become more reasonable and the cost of the war less. + +The chief difficulty in time of war is to make people realize the need +of economy when they have, as our people have, more money than ever +before, when enormous sums of money pour out ceaselessly to the people +from the Government. They have to realize the fundamental difference +between peace prosperity and war prosperity. Peace prosperity comes +from the creation of wealth. War prosperity comes from the dissipation +of wealth--the use of all resources--the pledging of credits. It is +just as if we, as individuals, to meet a personal crisis, took all our +personal savings and borrowed all we could and proceeded to spend it. +The wise man or woman will save all of it they can and realize that +every unnecessary dollar spent helps the enemy. No civilian in a +struggle of this kind has any moral right to more than necessary +things. We want every man and woman to have all they need for their +efficiency. We would not say for one moment that every one can save, +and money spent on clothing and feeding the children and keeping the +home comfortable is well spent, but nothing should be wasted. + +The standard in this matter should be set by the rich, on whom rests +the greatest responsibility, moral and social. It is impossible to +expect workers to save if they see luxury and extravagance everywhere +round them. One cannot too strongly say that. + +The civilians who work hard to produce, who have done heavy toil in +munitions and industry, and receive good wages and then go out and +spend it lavishly might just as well have slacked at their work. The +ultimate effect is the same. They have undone the good they did. It is +as if soldiers having won a trench let the Germans come back into it. + +People of small means often feel that all they can save is so small +that it cannot really help and wonder if the effort to save is worth +while, but if every person in America saved 2 cents a day, it would +amount to $730,000,000 in a year, and that would find a great deal of +munitions. + +Finding the money by saving finds everything, releases men for the +army, finds labour and money for munitions, finds labour for ships and +relieves the demands on tonnage, finds supplies. It is the fundamental +service of the civilian, and no good citizen wants luxuries while +soldiers and sailors need clothes and guns and ships and munitions. + +Everybody, man, woman, and child, can join the great financial army +and march behind our men, and women have done with us and can do +everywhere a great work in this. Women are on our National Committee +and doing a great deal of its organization. Our men in the trenches, +in the air, at sea, endure for us what we would have said before the +war was humanly unendurable. They pay for our freedom with a great +price--and we send them out to pay it--in death, disablement, +suffering and sacrifice. To fail in our duty behind them would be the +great betrayal. + +Our treasures are very small things compared with our men. Shall we +give them and not our money? + +[Illustration: REVERSE OF BEFORE YOU SPEND] + +[Illustration] + +A BOOKMARK, ISSUED BY N.W.S.C. + +[Illustration: THINK BEFORE YOU SPEND] + +[Illustration: REVERSE OF HOW 15/6] + +ANOTHER BOOKMARK + + + + +FOOD PRODUCTION AND CONSERVATION + + + "The whole country ought to realise that we are a beleaguered + city." + + --The President of the Board of Agriculture. + + + "If you have any belief in the cause for which thousands of + your fellow-countrymen have laid down their lives, you will + scrape and scrape and scrape, you will go in old clothes, + and old boots, and old ties until such a mass of treasure be + garnered into the coffers of the Government as to secure + at the end of all this tangle of misery a real and lasting + settlement for Europe." + + --The President of the Board of Education. + + + + + +CHAPTER X + +FOOD PRODUCTION AND CONSERVATION + + +In this great struggle the food question assumes greater and greater +importance. + +The production of food has been affected by the raising of great +armies--more than twenty million men are in arms in Europe--by the +feeding of armies, for which we must, of necessity, provide food in +excess of what these men would need in civil life. The ability to +get the food has been made difficult for us by the submarine warfare. +Thousands of tons of wheat lie in Australia, but we cannot afford +ships to bring it. Tea has been very short in England, though again +there are thousands of tons waiting in India. The most urgent need of +the Allies is for ships and more ships. There has been great loss of +tonnage and the needs of the Army and Navy absorb the service of vast +numbers of the available ships. We have moved 13,000,000 men since +war broke out, and the supplies and munitions they have needed, to our +many fronts. Ceaselessly we move the wounded. We have to bring into +Britain half our food. That we have done this, has been due to the +British Navy and the Reserves--the patrols and the mine sweepers--the +Fringes of the Fleet--and not least, the merchant seaman. About +6,000 merchantmen have been killed by the enemy, some with diabolical +cruelty. These men are torpedoed and come into port, and go for +another ship at once. On the ship on which I crossed there were seamen +who had been torpedoed three times In its submarine warfare the enemy +has broken every international and human law--has used "frightfulness" +to its fullest extent, and the answer of our merchant seamen is to go +to sea again as soon as the ship is ready, and the older men, who had +retired, return to sea. The seaman of our country know the enemy. It +was our Seamen's Union that refused to carry the Peace Delegates to +Stockholm, and it is they and our fishermen who, in the Reserves, man +the patrols and mine sweepers, and who, on our little drifters and +trawlers, have fought the enemy's big destroyers--fought till they +went down, refusing to surrender. + +It is not strange that the best-liked poster in our Food Crusade, +and the one people want everywhere, is a simple drawing of a merchant +seaman, and under it the words, "We risk our lives to bring you food. +It is up to you not to waste it." + +The countries that can succeed best in solving the food question are +the countries that will win, and the food problem will not cease, any +more than many others, when peace is declared. + +Very early in the war, existing organizations, such as the National +Food Reform Association, and newly created ones, the National Food +Economy League and the Patriotic Food League of Scotland, did a great +deal of active work on food saving. They aimed at instructing in +the scientific principles of the economical use of food, and issued +admirable leaflets and Handbooks for Housewives and Cookery Books. +A series of Exhibitions, often described as "Patriotic Housekeeping +Exhibitions" were held in different parts of the country, organized +generally by women's societies. One of the early ones I organized +in Salisbury. Later, the Public Trustee was chairman of an Official +Committee, which organized large Exhibitions in London and throughout +the country. These Exhibitions had stalls showing food values with +specimens, had exhibits of the most economical cooking stoves and +arrangements, and exhibited every manner of time and labour saving +device. They had wonderful exhibits of clothes for children made from +old clothes of grown-ups, of marvellous dresses and little jerseys and +caps and scarfs made from legs of old stockings. There were charming +dresses and underclothing made of the very simplest materials and +decorated artistically with stitching and embroidery. These were made +by school girls of seven and upwards for themselves, and the Glasgow +School of Art's work, done in schools there, was perfectly beautiful. +The cost was shown and it was incredibly small. All sorts of things +for the household in simple carpentry and upholstery, using up boxes +and wood, were shown, and old tins were converted into all sorts of +useful household things. Facts as to waste were made as striking as +possible by demonstration. Every exhibition had a War Savings Stall +and Certificates were often sold at these in large numbers, the Queen +buying the first sold at the first London Exhibition. + +The great feature of the Exhibitions was Food Saving and Conservation. +Demonstrations in cooking and in hay-box cooking, were given and these +were attended by thousands of women, Miss Petty, "The Pudding Lady," +being a specially attractive demonstrator. She was called "The Pudding +Lady," first by little children in London in the East End, where she +used to go into the homes, and show them how to cook on their own +fires, and with their own meagre possessions. When she came there was +pudding, so her title came as a result. + +We always included exhibits and posters on the care of the babies +and the children. Lectures on vegetable and potato growing, bee and +poultry keeping, etc., were also given. + +There were competitions in connection with the Exhibitions--prizes +were offered for the best cake--for the best war bread--for the best +dinners for a family at a small cost--for the best weekly budgets of +different small incomes--for the best blouse and dress made at a +small cost, etc., and these were extremely popular. The prizes were +generally War Savings Certificates or labour-saving devices. + +From the Governmental point of view the Food work is in two great +divisions: Food Production, which is worked by the Food Production +Department of the Board of Agriculture, of which the Women's Branch is +doing the work of placing women on the land. It not only works on the +production of more food but it organizes the conservation of food, +such as fruit bottling, and preserving fruit, and vegetable and fruit +drying, etc. + +A very great deal has been done in demonstrating how to conserve +fruit and vegetables all over the country and this has been done to an +extent hitherto quite unreached. Co-operative work has been done and +most interesting experiments made. The glass bottles necessary have +been secured by the Department, and are sold by them to those doing +the conservation at a fixed price. Last summer the Sugar Commission +also arranged to sell sufficient sugar for making preserves to those +people who grow their own fruit. This they succeeded in doing to a +very large extent--which was a most valuable conservation. + +The Ministry of Food is the other great body dealing with all food +problems of supply, price, regulations, and propaganda. + +Lord Rhondda is our Food Controller. Our first Controller was Lord +Devonport. Food control is the most unpopular work in any country and +a Food Controller deserves the help, sympathy and support of every +good citizen. No Food Controller, no matter how able, and no matter +how great and comprehensive his powers are, can do his work without +the co-operation of the people. + +Lord Rhondda's powers are very great as to control of supplier prices +and regulations. The price of the four pound loaf (and it must be four +pounds) is fixed by our Government at 18 cents and the loss is borne +by the Government. + +The prices of meat, beans, cheese, tea, sugar, milk, and the profits +on other articles are regulated by the Ministry. When Lord Devonport +was Food Controller we had courses at lunch and dinner limited--a +policy most people felt to be stupid as it meant a run on staple +foods--and it was abandoned by Lord Rhondda. We had meatless days, +which also have been stopped. We found it difficult to do, and +impossible to regulate. We had many potatoless days last spring--by +regulation in the restaurants--perforce by most of us in towns where +they were almost impossible to get, but this year we have the biggest +potato crop we have had. + +In restaurants and hotels now supplies are regulated. No one can have +more than two ounces of bread at any meal, and the amount of flour and +sugar supplied is strictly rationed to the hotels, according to the +number served. Not more than five ounces of meat (before cooking) can +be served at any meal. These regulations are strictly enforced, and +the duty of seeing all the regulations are carried out, and all the +work done, devolves upon the Local Food Control Committees which have +been set up all over the country under the Ministry, by the local +authorities. On every such Committee there must be women. They fix +prices for milk, etc., and initiate prosecutions for infringements of +the laws regulating food. + +No white flour is sold or used in Britain. The mills are all +controlled by the Government and all flour is now war grade, which +means it is made of about 70 per cent white flour and other grains, +rye, corn (which we call maize), barley, rice-flour, etc., are added. +We expect to mill potato flour this year. Oatmeal has a fixed price, +9 cents a pound, in Scotland, 10 cents in England. No fancy pastries, +no icing on cakes and no fancy bread may be made. Only two shapes of +loaf are allowed--the tin loaf and the Coburg. Cakes must only have 15 +per cent sugar and 30 per cent war grade flour. Buns and scones and +biscuits have regulations as to making, also. + +Butter is very scarce and margarine supplies not always big enough, +and we have tea and sugar and margerine queues in our big towns--women +standing in long rows waiting. It is an intolerable waste of time--and +yet it seems difficult to get it managed otherwise. + +The woman in the home in our country with high prices, want of +supplies, and her desire to economise has had a busy and full time, +but our people are quite well fed. Naturally enough, considering the +hard work we are all doing, our people are really using more, not less +food, but waste is being fought very well. + +Waste is a punishable offence and if you throw away bread or any good +food, you will be proceeded against, as many have been, and fined 40/- +to L100. No bread must be sold that is not twelve hours baked. New +bread is extravagant in cutting and people eat more. It is interesting +to note that in one period of the Napoleonic wars we did the same +thing and ate no new bread. + +Food hoarding is an offence and the food is commandeered and the +hoarder punished. Several people have been fined L50 and upwards. + +The work of the Army in economizing food has been a great work. +Rations have been cut down and much more carefully dealt with. The use +of waste products has become a science. All the fats are saved--even +the fats in water used in washing dishes are trapped and saved. The +fats are used to make glycerine, and last year the Army saved enough +waste fat to make glycerine for 18,000,000 shells. Fats and scraps for +pigs, and bones, etc., are all sold and one-third of the money goes +back to the men's messing funds to buy additional foods and every camp +tries to beat the other in its care and efficiency and the women cooks +are doing admirably in this work. + +Officers of the Navy and Army are only permitted to spend a certain +amount on meals in restaurants and hotels--3/6 for lunch and 5/6 for +dinner and 1/6 for tea. + +The other side of the Food Campaign is the propaganda and educative +work. Lord Rhondda has two women Co-Directors with him--Mrs. C.S. Peel +and Mrs. M. Pember Reeves--in the Ministry of Food, and they help in +the whole work and very specially with the educational and propaganda +work, and with the work of communal feeding. + +A number of communal kitchens have been established with great +success--many being in London. At these thousands of meals are +prepared--soups and stews, fish, and meats, and puddings, every +variety of dishes, and the purchasers come to the kitchens and bring +plates and jugs to carry away the food. Soups are sold from 2 to +4 cents for a jugful, and other things in proportion. These are +established under official recognition, the Municipalities in most +cases providing the initial cost. The prices paid cover the cost of +food and cooking, and the service is practically all voluntary. + +The first propaganda work was, as I have said, done by the War Savings +Committees, and our big task was to try to make our people realize how +undesirable it is to have to resort to compulsory rationing. We +are rationed on sugar and we do not want to adopt more compulsory +rationing than is necessary. Compulsory rationing, in some people's +minds, seems to ensure supplies. It does not and where, under +voluntary rationing, people go round and find other food and get along +with the supplies there are, under compulsory rationing there would +always be a tendency to demand their ration and to make trouble about +the lack of any one commodity in it. + +Compulsory rationing to be workable must be a simple scheme, and no +overhead ration of bread, for example, is just. The needs of workers +vary and so do the needs of individuals, and bread is the staple food +of our poorer classes. They have less variety of foods and need more +bread than the better-off people. Compulsory rationing may have to +come, but most of us are determined it will not come till it is really +unavoidable and we are appealing to our people to prevent that, and +masses of them are economizing and saving in a manner worthy of the +greatest praise. + +The rationing we appealed to our people to get down to, was three +pounds of flour per head in the week, 21/2 lbs. of meat and 1/2 lb. sugar. + +The King's Pledge, which we had signed by those willing to do this, +all over the country, pledged people to cut down their consumption +of grain by one-quarter in the household, and the King's Proclamation +urged this, and economies in grain and horse feeding. + +An old Proclamation of the 18th century appealed to our people to cut +down their consumption of their grains by one-third and was almost +identical in form, and copies signed by Edmund Burke and other famous +people were shown in our Thrift Exhibitions in Buckinghamshire. + +We arranged meetings for the maids of households in big groups to +explain the need and meaning of economy in food with great success. +Every head of a household knows that the maids can make or mar one's +efforts to save food, and we have found many of ours admirable, and +willing to do wonders in the way of economy and saving. + +If compulsory rationing in more than sugar comes as it may, the +basis of rationing will, we believe, be worked out with as much +consideration as possible of the needs of the workers. + +Our Co-operative movement is, in a simple way rationing its buyers, by +regulating supplies, and it is in voluntary work of that kind, which +is going on extensively, and in the people's own efforts and economies +that our great hope lies. + +The Ministry of Food arranges meetings and sends speakers to +associations and bodies of every kind. The schools are very +extensively used for demonstrations to which the parents are invited. +The children are talked to and write essays on food and general saving +and in these, one little girl of seven told us, "If you don't throw +away your crusts, you will beat the Kaiser," and another small boy +said, "Boys should give up sliding for the war, as it wears out their +boots," and another said, "We should not go to picture houses so +much--once a week is quite often enough." One little child who had +been coached at school returned home to see a baby sister of two throw +away a big crust and said, "If Lord Rhondda was here, wouldn't he give +you a row." So the root of the matter seems to be in the youth of our +country and the sweetness and willingness of their sacrifices is very +fragrant. They sing about saving bread and saving pennies, and to +hear a choir of Welsh children sing these songs, with a vigour and +enjoyment that is infectious, is quite delightful. + +Most of our big girls' schools have given up buying sweets, and when +they get gifts of them send them to the prisoners and the soldiers. We +have, of course, restricted our manufacture of sweets very much. + +Our school children have, in addition, worked enormous numbers of +school gardens and grown tons of potatoes and vegetables. + +Our distilleries are taken over by the Government for spirits for +munitions and our beer is cut down very greatly. Travelling kitchens +go out from the Ministry of Food also and do demonstrations in +villages and country districts on cooking and conservation. The +Ministry issues leaflets of recipes and instructions in cooking and +has a special Win the War Cookery Book. Articles are also published on +food values and quite a number of people begin to understand something +about calories, even though they are rather vague about what it all +means. + +Naturally most of the Food speaking and work is done by women though +food control and saving is men's and women's work. + +This year we saved grain by collecting the horse chestnuts, a work +that was done by the school children. These are crushed and the oil +used for munitions and it was reckoned we could save tens of thousands +of tons of grain by doing this. + +A wonderful work in the use of waste materials has been the work of +the Glove Waistcoat Society, to which American women have kindly sent +old gloves. Old gloves are cleaned, the fingers are cut off, the other +big pieces stitched together and cut into waistcoats and backed by +linenette. These are sold to the soldiers and sailors for wear under +their tunics and are most beautifully light and windproof. The fingers +of kid gloves are made into glue, of wash leather gloves into rubbers +for household use. The big pieces of linenette over are made into dust +sheets and the small scraps go to stuff mattresses for a Babies' Home. +The buttons are carded and sold and the making up provides work for +distressed elderly women. It needs no funds--it is self-supporting--it +only needs old gloves. + +In preventing waste and in food production and conservation, our +people have learned much, and a very great deal of admirable work is +being done. + + + + +THE WOMEN'S ARMY AUXILIARY CORPS + + "Now every signaller was a fine Waac, + And a very fine Waac was she--e." + + "Soldier and Sailor, too." + + + + +CHAPTER XI + +THE WOMEN'S ARMY AUXILIARY CORPS + + +The Waacs is the name we all know them by and shall, it seems, +continue to. It will have to go into future dictionaries beside Anzac. + +The deeds of the Anzacs in Gallipoli and France are immortalised in +many records--magnificently in John Masefield's "Gallipoli"--an epic +in its simplicity. The work of the Waacs is the work of support and +substitution and its records only begin to be made. + +The Women's Army Auxiliary Corps is an official creation of this year. +At the Women's Service Demonstration in the Albert Hall in January, +1917, Lord Derby asked for Women for clerical service in the army and +official appeals were issued in February and repeatedly since that +time, and now all over the country we have Recruiting Committees +organizing meetings and securing recruits. They are recruiting at the +rate of 10,000 a month. + +The Waacs had many forerunners in some of our voluntary organizations, +in the Women's Reserve Ambulance, of "The Green Cross Society," +attached to the National Motor Volunteers--the Women's Volunteer +Reserve--the Women's Legion--the Women's Auxiliary Force and the Women +Signallers Territorial Corps. The Women's Signallers Corps had as +Commandant-in-Chief Mrs. E.J. Parker--Lord Kitchener's sister. They +believed women should be trained in every branch of signalling and +that men could be released for the firing line by women taking over +signalling work at fixed stations. Their prediction came true more +than two years later, for today they are in France. They drilled and +trained the women in all the branches of signalling semaphore--flags, +mechanical arms; and in Morse--flags, airline and cable, sounder +(telegraphy), buzzer, wireless, whistle, lamp and heliograph. They +also learned map reading--the most fascinating of accomplishments. +This Corps had the distinction of introducing "wireless" for women +in England in connection with its Headquarters training school. When +one of the Corps later accepted a splendid appointment as wireless +instructor at a wireless telegraph college--the Corps was duly elated. + +[Illustration: W.A.A.C.'s. ON THE MARCH] + +[Illustration: WOMEN OF THE RESERVE AMBULANCE] + +The Women's Reserve Ambulance had the distinction of being the first +ambulance on the scene in the first serious Zeppelin Raid in London +(September, 1915). They came to where the first bombs fell, killing +and wounding, and did the work of rescue, and when another ambulance +arrived later, "Thanks," said the police, "the ladies have done this +job." + +They worked assisting the War Hospital Supply Depots, that wonderful +organization run by Miss MacCaul, they provided orderlies to serve the +meals and act as housemaids, and make the men welcome at Peel House, +one of the Canadian Clubs. Others helped in Hospitals, washing up and +doing other work. + +Others met and moved wounded--others at night took the soldiers to +the Y.M.C.A. huts. The Women's Volunteer Reserve, too, seemed to be +everywhere doing all sorts of useful, helpful things--disciplined, +ready, and trained. The Women's Legion led the way in providing cooks +and waitresses for camps and sent out 1,200 of these inside a year. +The first convalescent camp to have all its cooking and serving done +by women was managed--admirably, too--by the Women's Legion, so +the Waacs had many voluntary forerunners, who are mostly in it and +amalgamated with it now. + +The Waacs are a part of the Army organization--are in His Majesty's +Forces and when a girl joins she is subject to army rules and +regulations. They are working now in large numbers in England and in +France, at all the base towns, and in quiet places, where things that +matter are planned and initiated. + +The girl who goes to France knows she is going to possible danger by +being handed, before she goes, her two identification discs. + +For France, no woman under twenty or over forty is eligible. After +volunteering, they are chosen by Selection Boards and medically +examined. They receive a grant for their uniforms. The workers wear +a khaki coat-frock--a very sensible garment--brown shoes and soft hat +and a great coat. At the end of a year they get a L5 ($25) bonus on +renewing their contracts, and they get a fortnight's leave in a year. + +Their payment is not high--it works out about the same as a soldier's +when everything is paid--and that, with us, is just over 25 cents a +day, so the khaki girl, like the soldier, does not work for the money. + +The whole organization is officered and directed by women. Mrs. +Chalmers Watson, M.D., C.B.E., is the Chief Controller, with +Miss MacQueen as Assistant Chief Controller. Under them are the +Controllers--Area, Recruiting, etc., and the officer in charge +of a unit is called an Administrator, and under her are deputy +administrators and assistant-administrators. They are not given +Military titles and do not hold commissions, but their appointments +are gazetted in the ordinary way. There is always a strong feeling in +England that Military and Naval titles should be strictly reserved. + +The equivalent of a sergeant is a "forewoman," and there are +quartermistresses in charge of stores. Rank is shown as among the men, +by badges, rose and fleur-de-lys. + +Administrators are being trained in large numbers. They have a short +course of drilling, learn to fill up Army forms, make out pay sheets, +how to requisition for rations, catering generally, and how to run a +hostel. They also attend practical lectures on hygiene and sanitation. +When this is done, they go to camp for a fortnight's training under an +administrator in actual charge of a Unit. If they have not done well +in this course, they are not appointed. + +An administrator receives a $100 grant for her uniform and is paid +from $600 to $875 a year out of which $200 is deducted for food. There +is generally one officer to every fifty women. + +The administrator must drill her girls. The W.A.A.C. is proud of its +tone and its discipline. Its officers make the girls feel much is +expected of them, because of the uniform they wear, and the girls have +made a fine response. There are very few rules and as little restraint +as possible. The girls are put on their honour when not under +supervision. The administrator has considerable disciplinary powers, +but they are very little needed. + +It does not seem to be by discipline that the officer succeeds best. +There is a nice story told of an Administrator who had been away from +her unit some days, returning and being met at the station by one of +the rank and file who had come for her bag. + +"I _am_ glad to see you, Ma'am," was the greeting, so emphatic a one +that the Administrator inquired nervously if something were wrong. + +"Oh, no. Seems as if Mother had been away, Ma'am," explained the girl. + +The Administrator can help her girls by sorting them out well, +putting friends and the same kind of girls together; it makes so much +difference. + +The Administrator has not only to handle her own sex--she has to deal +with men officers and quartermasters, and she succeeds in doing that +well, too. + +Our Administrators are naturally women of education and carefully +chosen and there is plenty of opportunity of rising "from the ranks." + +The girls cross over to France on the gray transports, are received +by the women Draft Receiving Officers, and go up the lines to their +assigned posts. + +The women are billeted in some of the base towns in pensions and +summer hotels that have been commandeered, in big houses and in one +case in a beautiful old Chateau where the ghosts of dead-and-gone +ladies of beauty and fashion must wonder what kind of women these +khaki clad girls are. The girls in these make their rooms home-like +with photographs, hangings, and little personal belongings. + +The greater number of girls live in camps, and different types of huts +have been tried. Some of the camps are entirely of wooden huts--large +and roomy. Other camps have the Nissen hut of corrugated iron, lined +with laths wood floored and raised from the ground. These have +been linked together in the cleverest way by covered ways. In the +sleeping huts the beds are iron bedsteads with springs and horse-hair +mattresses. Each bed has four thoroughly good blankets and a pillow. +No sheets are given--there is no labour to wash the thousands of +sheets, and the cotton is needed. Each woman has a wooden locker with +a shelf above, and a chair. Washing and bathing is done in separate +huts, and in every camp hot and cold water is laid on. + +The mess room is a big hut. The girls wait on themselves and the food +is excellent. They receive in rations the same as the soldiers on +lines of communication--four-fifths of a fighting man's ration and +whatever is over is returned and credited, and the extra money is used +for luxuries, games and for entertaining visitors from other camps. + +Here is a typical week's meals and it shows how well they are fed: + + MONDAY.--Breakfast: Tea, bread, butter, baked mince, jam. + Dinner: Cold beef, potatoes, tomatoes, baked apples, custard. + Tea: Tea, bread, butter, jam. Supper: Welsh rarebit, bread, + butter, jam. + + TUESDAY.--Breakfast: Tea, bread, butter, boiled ham, + marmalade. Dinner: brown onion stew, potatoes, baked beans, + biscuit pudding. Tea: Tea, bread, butter, jam, cheese. Supper: + Savoury rice, tea, bread. + + WEDNESDAY.--Breakfast: Tea, bread, butter, veal loaf. Dinner: + Roast mutton, potatoes, marrow, bread pudding. Tea: Tea, + bread, butter, marmalade, jam. Supper: Rissoles, bread, + butter, cheese. + + THURSDAY.--Breakfast: Tea, bread, butter, fried bacon. Dinner: + Meat pie, potatoes, cabbage, custard and rice. Tea: Tea, + bread, butter, jam. Supper: Soup, bread and jam. + + FRIDAY.--Breakfast: Tea, bread, butter, rissoles, marmalade. + Dinner: Boiled beef, potatoes and onions, Dundee roll. Tea: + tea, bread, butter, jam, slab cake. Supper: Shepherd's pie, + tea, bread, butter. + + SATURDAY.--Breakfast: Tea, bread, butter, boiled ham, jam. + Dinner: Thick brown stew, potatoes and cabbage, bread pudding. + Tea: Tea, bread, butter, jam, cheese. Supper: Toad-in-hole, + bread jam. + + SUNDAY.--Breakfast: Tea, bread, butter, fried bacon. Dinner: + Roast beef, potatoes and cabbage, stewed fruit, custard. Tea: + Tea, bread, butter, jam. Supper: Soup, bread, butter, cheese. + +They are divided into five big classes for work. There are large +numbers of them cooks and waitresses, and many of these cooks come +from the best private houses in England, so the Waacs and the soldiers +fare well. In one camp in the early days sixty women cooks walked in +and sixty men out, released for the fighting lines. The saving in fats +done by the women is very great and their economies admirable and the +women are waitresses in the camps and messes. + +In one base in France when twenty-nine cooks came to take charge in +the early days the commanding officer issued an order that expresses +very well the spirit in which the women are regarded. + + +BASE DEPOT. + + The Officer Commanding Base Depot wishes to draw the attention + of all ranks to the following points in connection with the + Domestic Section of the Women's Auxiliary Army, which is + employed in this depot: + + These women have not come out for the sake of money, as their + pay is that of a private soldier. In nearly every case they + have lost someone dear to them in this war, and they are out + here to try to do their best to make things more comfortable + for the men in regard to their food. + + It, therefore, is up to all ranks to make their lot an easy + and not a hard one during their stay in France. If any man + should so forget himself as to use bad language or at any time + to be rude to them, it is up to any of his comrades standing + by to shut him up, and see that he does not repeat this + offence. + + To the older men I would say: Treat them as you would your own + daughters. To the younger men: Treat them as you would your + own sisters. + + ----, Comdg., Base Depot. + +They are doing the clerical work more and more, and in a few weeks +have become so technical that they know where to send requisitions +concerning 9.2 guns or trench mortars or giant howitzers. There is a +favourite story told against an early Waac that when a demand came for +armoured hose, she sent it to the clothing department, but she knows +better now. + +French girls are also helping in the clerical department, working side +by side with the Waacs. + +Others, the telegraphists and telephonists are in the Signalling Corps +and these are the only ones who wear Army badges. They work under the +Officers Commanding Signals and are so successful that the officers +want thousands more. + +Another small group are called the "Hush Waacs." There are only +about a dozen of them and they have come from the Censor's Office and +between them have a thorough knowledge of all modern languages. They +are decoding signalled and written messages, script of every kind. + +Numbers more are motor car and transport drivers working with A.S.C. + +An intensely interesting piece of work at the front in which the Waacs +now are, and in which French women have worked for a very long time, +and are still working in large numbers, is the great "Salvage" work of +the Army. In the Salvage centre at one ordnance base 30,000 boots are +repaired in a week. They are divided into three classes--those that +can be used again by the men at the front--those for men on the lines +of communication--those for prisoners and coloured labour, and uppers +that are quite useless are cut up into laces. They salve old helmets, +old web and leather equipments, haversacks, rifles, horse shoes, +spurs, and every conceivable kind of battlefield debris. + +The work of repair and of renewal of clothing, which goes over to +England to be dealt with, is a wonder of economy. + +The women are helping in postal work and we handle about three million +letters and packets a day in France for our Army there. + +One other piece of work that falls to trained women gardeners in the +Corps, is the care of the graves in France. There are so many graves +in little clusters, lonely by the roadside, and in great cemeteries. +They mark them clearly and they make them more beautiful with flowers. +No work they have come to do, is done more faithfully than this act of +reverence to our heroic and honoured dead. + +The Y.W.C.A.'s Blue Triangle is going to be the same symbol for the +Waacs as the Red Triangle for the Soldiers. They are building huts +everywhere in France and in England, and the girls like them as much +as the men do. + +In these recreation huts the girls enjoy themselves and there are +evenings when the soldier friends come in, too, and have a good time +with them, for Waacs and the soldiers know each other and meet at all +the Bases and Camps. + +They dance and play games, and act, or sing, or come and talk, and one +visitor tells us of seeing a girl doing machining at the end of a hut +with one soldier turning the handle for her and another helping. + +One evening at a dance some gallant Australian N.C.O.'s arrived +carrying two enormous pans of a famous salad, that was their +specialty, as their contribution to the provisions. So life in the +Waacs is not all work--there is play, too, wisely. Every camp has a +trained V.A.D. worker to look after the girls in case of sickness. +If the case is bad they are sent over to Endell Street Hospital in +London. + +The Navy is going to follow the Army--so our women will be "Soldier +and Sailor too," and we shall have to sing, "Till the girls come +home," as well. + +The Admiralty has decided to employ women on various duties on shore +hitherto done by naval ratings, and to establish a Women's Royal Naval +Service. The women will have a distinctive uniform and the service +will be confined to women employed on definite duties directly +connected with the Royal Navy. It is not intended at present to +include those serving in the Admiralty departments or the Royal +Dockyards or other civil establishments under the Admiralty. There +are thousands of women in these already, as there were in Army pay +offices, etc., before the Waacs were formed. + +Dame Katherine Furse, G.B.E., will be Director of the Women's Royal +Naval Service, and will be responsible under the Second Sea Lord, for +its administration and organization. + +Already we hear they are likely to be known as the "Wrens." And so our +women are inside the organized forces of defence of our Country--the +last line of usefulness and service. + + + + +THE WAR AND MORALS + + + "Evils which have been allowed to flourish for centuries + cannot be destroyed in a day. If the nation really wishes to + be freed from the consequences of prostitution it must deal + with the sources of prostitution by a long series of social, + educational, and economic reforms. The ultimate remedy is the + acceptance of a single standard of morality for men and women, + and the recognition that man is meant to be the master and not + the slave of his body. There are thousands of men both in the + army and out of it who know this, and for whom the streets of + London have no dangers." + + --Dr. HELEN WILSON. + + + + +CHAPTER XII + +THE WAR AND MORALS + + +The unprecedented state of things produced by the war brought in its +train serious anxiety as to moral conditions, not only in regard to +the relation between the sexes but in other ways. The gathering of +every kind of man together in camps creates great problems. Young +boys, who had never been away from home before, who know very +little of the world or of temptations, were often flung in with very +undesirable companions. There were many risks and many hard tests +and the parents who see their young boys go to camp without preparing +them, or warning them, do their boys a great disservice and I have +known of sons who bore in their hearts a feeling of having been badly +treated by their parents, that would never die, for being sent without +a word of counsel into these things. + +It is not only actions--corrupt thoughts are the most evil of all--and +to help to give our boys the greatest possession, moral courage, +founded on knowledge, is our finest gift. + +There were temptations to think less cleanly, to hear things said +without protest and to say them later. There were drinking temptations +and one used to wonder with a sick heart, what mothers would feel if +they could see these young boys of theirs sometimes, so pathetically +young and so foolish. There was also in these great camps of men--let +us realize that quite clearly--great good for the boys and the +men--good that far outweighs the evil. All the good of discipline, +all they gained by their coming together for a great cause, all they +gained in that great comradeship and service for each other, and in +their self-sacrifice for their country and the world. The wonder +and beauty of what it is, and means some of our own men have told +us--among them one who died, Donald Hankey, and has left us a rich +treasure in his works. And we all know it in our own men--that abiding +spirit that is the vision without which the people perish. + +But there are and were evils to fight and men and women to help. The +huts and canteens and guesthouses are great agencies for good--as well +as for comfort. Loneliness, and nowhere to go, and no one to talk to, +are conditions that make for mischief. + +Then there were the girls at the outbreak of the war, excited by all +that was happening, not yet busy as they nearly all are now, feeling +that the greatest thing was to know the soldiers and talk and walk +with them, and flocking around camps and barracks, being foolish and +risking worse. + +The National Union of Women Workers decided to take action about this +and drew up a scheme which they submitted to the Chief Commissioner +of the Metropolitan Police, Sir Edward Henry, K.C.V.O. This scheme was +for women of experience and knowledge of girls to patrol in the camps +and barrack areas, and talk to girls who were behaving foolishly, and +try to influence them for good. It was felt and it turned out to be +quite accurate that the mere presence of these women would make girls +and men behave better. Sir Edward Henry approved of the idea and +arranged that each Patrol should have a card signed by him to be +carried while on duty, authorizing the Patrols to seek and get the +assistance of the Police, if necessary, and the Patrols wore an armlet +with badge and number. + +Their work in London proved so successful that the Home Office +recommended the adoption of the scheme in provincial centres, where +the Chief Constables authorized them and later the War Office asked +for more Patrols in some of the camp areas and spoke very highly of +their work. + +A woman Patrol is generally a woman who is busy in her own home or +profession all day, but who gives some hours one or two evenings a +week to this work. + +They have done the work faithfully and well, and have exceeded in +their success all anticipations. There are about 3,000 Patrols in the +Kingdom; of these eighty-five are engaged in special work in London +and paid by the Commissioner of Police. Two are engaged in work at +Woolwich Arsenal. Two are Park Keepers appointed by the Board of Works +and are working in Kensington Gardens, and their names were submitted +to the King before appointment. They have the power of arrest. + +A subsidy has been granted to the Women's Patrol Committee for the +training of Women Patrols of L400 a year. In many big towns admirable +work has been done. + +In Edinburgh the Patrol Committee was asked by H.M. Office of Works to +help the men park keepers in keeping order in the King's Park. + +This they have done with great success. Dublin has just taken over two +women Patrols as paid workers. + +The Military, Admiralty, Police, and Civil Authorities have all united +in praising their work and any one can realize how much patience and +tact and knowledge it calls for, and what it means to have had it done +for over three years. The patrols have not been content only to talk +to the girls, though it is wonderful what that alone can do. They have +succeeded in getting them to come to clubs and they have worked +in connection with the mixed clubs of which we have several very +successful ones. A mixed club is very useful and helpful, but it must +be well run by a good committee of men and women, and you need people +of judgment and knowledge and tactful firmness in charge of it, if it +is to be the best kind of club. + +We have found an admirable thing is to have evenings for men friends +in the Girls' Clubs when the girls can invite their men friends in, +and have music and games and entertainment. + +When Patrols were started, there was a very strong feeling that there +ought to be women police, a much needed change in our country. We had +none when war broke out, but in September, 1914, Miss Darner Dawson +founded the Women Police Service. When members joined they were +trained in drill, first aid, practical instructions in Police Duties, +gained by actual work in streets, parks, etc. They studied special +acts relating to women and children and civil and criminal law and the +procedure and rules of evidence in Police Courts. + +Their first work was done in Grantham where, in November, 1914, +the Women's Central Committee of Grantham elected a Women Police +Subcommittee to provide a fund for the payment of two Police Women to +work with the Chief Constable. In February the following letter was +written about their work: + + "To the Chief Officer, Women Police,--I understand that there + is some idea of removing the two members of the Women Police + now stationed here. I trust that this is not the case. The + services of the two ladies in question have proved of great + value. They have removed sources of trouble to the troops in a + manner that the Military Police could not attempt. Moreover, I + have no doubt whatever that the work of these two ladies in an + official capacity is a great safeguard to the moral welfare of + young girls in the town. + + (Signed) "F. HAMMERSLEY, M.G., Commanding 11th Division, Grantham." + +and in November, 1915, they were made official Police by the City +Council. In July, 1916, the Police Miscellaneous Provisions Act was +passed, which encouraged the employment of Policewomen by stating that +pay of the police "shall be deemed to include the pay of any women who +may be employed by a Police Authority," etc. + +Now there are thirty-four Policewomen in our Boroughs, but their +position is still anomalous and unsatisfactory, as they do not come +under the Police Act for purposes of discipline, pay, pensions, and +compensation, but this will come. Meantime the Women Police Service +goes on doing its admirable work of training and providing Volunteer +and Semi-official police (supported by women's funds), in addition to +those appointed by local authorities in Boroughs. + +These semi-official police women are able to do a great deal, if the +Chief Constable is friendly, and, naturally, they are appointed where +he is so. They are often made Probation Officers and are used for +children's and girl's and women's cases. Their work leads more and +more to the official appointments and in this work as in so many +of our successes, we women have achieved the results by having the +voluntary organizations and training ourselves first and proving our +fitness. + +From my own experience, it is impossible to speak too highly of the +kindness and willingness of many Chief Constables to do everything to +teach and help the women. + +The Women Police Service naturally insists on a high standard of +training and this has been of great value. + +A big development of women police work has been in the Munition +factories where now about 700 women are employed in this capacity in +England, Scotland and Wales. + +The report of the Women's Police Service gives the following +interesting account. + +"In 1916 the Department Explosives Supply of the Ministry of Munitions +applied to Sir Edward Henry for a force of Women Police to act as +guards for certain of H.M. Factories. Sir Edward Henry sent for the +two chief officers of the Women Police Service, and informed them that +it was his intention to recommend them to the Ministry of Munitions +for the supplying of the Women Police required. They thanked the +Commissioner for his expression of trust in their capabilities, and in +July an agreement was drawn up between the Minister of Munitions +and the Chief Officer and Chief Superintendent of the Women Police +Service, who were appointed to act as the Minister's representatives +for the 'training, supplying and controlling' of the Force required. +The duties of the Policewomen were to include checking the entry of +women into the factory, examining passports, searching for contraband, +namely, matches, cigarettes and alcohol; dealing with complaints of +petty offences; patrolling the neighbourhood for the protection of +women going home from work; accompanying the women to and fro in the +workmen's trains to the neighbouring towns where they lodge; appearing +in necessary cases at the Police Court, and assisting the magistrates +in dealing with such cases, if required to. The Force for each factory +was to consist of an inspector, sergeants and constables. Women to +be trained for this work were at once enrolled by the Women Police +Service and trained under a Staff of Officers. + +"Since the inauguration of factory-police work for women in July, +1916, a marked success has attended the organisation, which has +resulted in almost daily applications for Policewomen for factories +situated in every part of the United Kingdom. We are not able to give +a list of these factories nor to mention their names in our report +of the work carried on by them, but we may say that at the present +time we are supplying H.M. Factories, National Filling Factories +and Private Controlled Factories. We are sure that our patrons and +subscribers will feel as proud as we are of the intrepid Policewomen +who for the past fourteen months have been carrying out these duties, +which, we believe, no women have hitherto dreamt of undertaking, and +which have called forth qualities of tact, discretion, cool courage +and endurance that would compare well with any of those whom we call +heroes in the fight at the front. We would call attention to one +factory from which both the military and male Police Guard has +been withdrawn. The factory employs several thousand women in the +manufacture and disposal of some of the most dangerous explosives +demanded by the war. When an air raid is in progress the operatives +are cleared from the factory and the sheds and magazines are left +to the sole charge of the Firemen and Policewomen, who take up the +respective posts allotted to them. The Policewomen who guard the +various magazines know that they hold their lives in their hands. +We are proud to report that not one woman has failed at her post or +shirked her duty in the hour of danger. The duties assigned to the +Policewomen and their officers in these factories have increased +considerably in scope during the past year. In one factory the force +of Policewomen numbers 160 under one Chief Inspector, two Inspectors +and twelve Sergeants, all of whom have been sworn in and take entire +charge of all police cases dealing with women. They arrest, convey the +prisoners to the Women Police Charge Station, keep their own charge +sheets and other official documents, lock the prisoner in the cells, +keep guard over her, convey her to the Court House for trial, and if +convicted convey her to the prison. A short time ago the Inspector of +Policewomen in one of H.M. Factories was instructed by the authorities +to send a Policewoman to a distant town to fetch a woman prisoner, +an old offender. The Policewoman was armed with a warrant, railway +vouchers and handcuffs. The prisoner was handed over to the +Policewoman by the Policeman, and the Policewoman and her charge +returned without trouble. The prisoner expressed her relief and +gratitude at being escorted by a Policewoman, and behaved well +throughout the journey. The Policewoman reported that she was given +every courtesy and assistance by both police and railway officials. + +[Illustration: POLICE WOMEN] + +"We believe this constitutes the first time in history that women +guards have been entrusted with the care and custody of their +fellow-women when charged with breaking the law." + +Other pieces of important and difficult work have been undertaken by +women. + +There have been, unfortunately, cases in which the soldier's wife, +left at home, has behaved badly and been unfaithful. Men often write +from the trenches to the Chief Constable to ask if charges made +to them in letters about their wives are true. Naturally the Chief +Constable asks the women to investigate these charges. Sometimes the +charges are quite unfounded, simply spiteful and malicious and the +woman and Chief Constable write and say so. + +In other cases the husband knows of unfaithfulness and writes to the +Army Pay Office asking to have the allowance stopped to his wife. +The Army Pay Office never acts on any such letter without securing a +report from the Chief Constable, and again the woman is needed, +and there is frequently the question of the children as well. Their +allowance, of course, never ceases but they may go to some relative or +be disposed of in some way. + +These cases are infinitesimal in number. + +After the outbreak of the war there were many scares. Every one in our +country knows now how a myth is established. We have left the stage +behind where people told you they knew, from a friend, who knew a +friend who knew some one else who saw it, who was in the War Office, +etc., etc., etc.--that England was invaded--that the Navy was all +down--or the German Navy was all down--that we were going to do this, +that, or the other impossible thing. + +Dame Rumour had a joyous time in the early days of the war and +we suffered from the people who were not only quite certain that +everything was wrong morally, but told us that the illegitimate birth +rate was going to be enormous. Their accusations against our ordinary +girls were monstrous. There was some excitement and foolishness, but +anybody who was really working and dealing with it as the Patrol were, +knew the accusations were ridiculous. The illegitimate birth rate of +our country is lower than before, which is the best reply to, and +the vindication of the men of our armies and our girls against, these +absurd attacks. + +Another scare was about the drinking of women. Soldiers' wives were +attacked in this connection and the same kind of wild accusation +made, so much so that a committee was appointed to go into the whole +question (1915), presided over by Mrs. Creighton, President of the +National Union of Women Workers. + +In my experience a great deal of this talk was caused by the fact that +many women, who had never done social work, and who knew nothing of +real conditions, started to go among the people and were shocked and +overwhelmed by what were unfortunately normal wrong conditions, and +lost all sense of perspective. Some women did drink--true--but I found +they were generally the women who always had done it, and who perhaps +in some cases, having more money of their own and no husbands to deal +with, drank a little more. + +The findings of the Committee showed this clearly and they made some +recommendations, especially recommending that the Central Board for +the Control of the Liquor Traffic proceeded to do on its creation, +restriction of hours of sale. Our restrictions make the sale of liquor +legal only from 12 noon to 2.30 and from 6.30 to 8.30 or 9 P.M. Our +convictions for drunkenness for women have fallen very low and for +men, too. There is very much less drinking in our country and things +are very much improved. + +These attacks on soldiers' wives were naturally much resented as their +work in the homes and industries, with their men away, and all their +difficulties, has not always been easy. We find there is a little more +difficulty with the boys. They miss the fathers' discipline and there +has been some trouble through that, but such magnificent agencies as +the Boy Scouts, who have helped us everywhere in the war, do great +good. + +The problem of dealing with the prevention of immorality has been +a big one. The Women Patrols and the Women Police have been used in +London in Waterloo Road (which had a bad reputation) and in parks, +etc. The G.R. Volunteer Corps of men who meet the soldier arriving in +London at the stations do a very good work. + +In the Army and Navy excellent leaflets and booklets were issued +dealing with the question in a very straightforward and admirable way. + +The Council for Moral and Social Hygiene and the National Council for +Combating Venereal Diseases has been doing a great work. The latter, +which is a body set up as a result of the Government Commission on +Venereal Diseases, had done a great deal of educational work and has +set up an organization over the country. The Commission recommended +much fuller facilities for free treatment for those suffering from +these diseases in every town and district. + +A Criminal Law Amendment Bill has been brought in and it improves +our existing law in many ways and strengthens it. There has been much +controversy about certain of its provisions, some dealing with power +to send young girls to homes. There is a very strong feeling among +many of our social workers that Rescue Work in our country altogether +needs overhauling and change, and new experiments are being tried. + +Wars have almost invariably in the past meant an enormous increase in +venereal diseases on the return of the army in the civil population. +Armies lose large numbers of men by them, and every person must feel +it is their plain duty to leave no means untried and no measures +unused that could help. + +The woman who lives by her immoral earnings is, like the man who is +immoral and uncontrolled, a serious danger and menace to her country +and to generations yet unborn. + +The problems that arise from the existence of these two groups are +the business of all men and women. The problems are those of providing +decent and wholesome recreation and surroundings, of helping men and +women to meet under right conditions, of giving the right kind of +information and guidance to the soldier and the girl, of realizing +what drink does in this traffic, and the fundamental task of working +to create better social, economic and moral conditions. + +There is no need nor is it desirable to have masses of people +suffer unnecessary misery by a knowledge of the exact nature of this +disease--which leads sometimes to morbidity and often to a frenzied +desire to do something at once, before they really know anything about +the question and what has been done. + +There are three questions that ought to be answered in the affirmative +before any legislation or preventive treatment is decided on. + +Will the proposed action apply equally to men and to women, to rich +and to poor? + +Will it tend to increase and not undermine the powers of self-control? + +Will it improve morals in the nation and elevate them? + +Repressive measures by themselves achieve nothing. Preventive measures +of every practical and sound kind we want, but most of all we need +to inculcate the truth that "Self-reverence, self-knowledge, +self-control, These three alone lead man to sovereign power." + +It is not enough to prevent and teach. We should be willing to help +up, to save, to love, and we should never be self-righteous in our +help. + +Who among us has the right to cast the first stone? + + + + +WHAT THE WAR HAS DONE FOR WOMEN + + + "Give her of the fruits of her lands and let her own words + praise her in the gates." + + --PROV., Chap 31. + + + + +CHAPTER XIII + +WHAT THE WAR HAS DONE FOR WOMEN + + +The war has done already, with us, such great things for women, so +many of them so naturally accepted now, that it is almost difficult to +get back in thought, and realize where we stood when it broke out. + +General Smuts, in one of his speeches, said, "Under stress of great +difficulty practically everything breaks down ultimately, and the only +things that survive are really the simple human feelings of loyalty +and comradeship to your fellows, and patriotism, which can stand any +strain and bear you through all difficulty and privation. We soldiers +know the extraordinary value of these simple feelings, how far they go +and what strain they can bear, and how, ultimately, they support the +whole weight of civilization." + +In this war our men, in their dealings with us, have got down more and +more to simple fundamental truths and facts--loyalty and comradeship, +founded on our common patriotism. We have got nearer and nearer to the +ideal so many of us long for, equal right to serve and help. The great +fundamental establishment of political rights for women has come with +us. When war broke out, women's suffrage was winning all the time a +greater and greater mass of adherents, a majority of the House was +pledged to vote for it and had been for years, the Trade Unions and +Labour Party stood solid for it, but the motive to act seemed lacking. + +War came, and every political party in our country laid aside +political agitation. No party meetings have been held since August, +1914. Suffragists and anti-suffragists did the same. The great body of +constitutional suffragists kept their organization intact but used +it for "sustaining the vital energies of the nation." Relief Work, +Hospital Work and Supplies, Child Welfare, Comforts, Workrooms, help +for professional women, work for Belgian refugees, work in canteens +and huts, work for the Soldiers and Sailors Families' Association, +Schools for Mothers, Girls' Clubs--into everything the Suffrage +societies fling themselves with ardour, zeal and ability. No women +knew better how to organize, no women better how to educate and win +help. They formed an admirable Women's Interests Committee, and looked +after all women's interests excellently. + +When the Government issued its first appeal for women volunteers for +munitions and land, etc., it asked the Suffrage societies to circulate +them and to help them to secure the needed labour from women. + +As the war went on it became clearer and clearer that the men of +the country saw more and more vividly why suffragists had asked for +votes--and more and more were impressed with the value of their work. +At meetings to do propaganda for Government appeals, when women spoke +on the needs of the country, men everywhere, although it had nothing +to do with the appeal, and had never been mentioned, declared their +conversion to Women's Suffrage in the War. + +Women pointed out that they did not want Women's Suffrage as a +reward--but as a simple right. They had not worked for a reward, but +for their country, as any citizen would, but, in our country, the +great converting power is practical proof of value and they had that +overwhelmingly in our work. The Press came out practically solidly for +Women's Suffrage. The work of women was praised in every paper and +one declared, "It cannot be tolerable that we should return to the +old struggle about admitting them to the franchise." Eminent +Anti-Suffragists, inside and outside of the House of Commons, frankly +admitted their conversion. Mr. Asquith, the old enemy of Women's +Suffrage, said in a memorable speech: "They presented to me not only +a reasonable, but, I think, from their point of view, an unanswerable +case.... They say that when the war comes to an end, and when the +process of industrial reconstruction has to be set on foot, have not +the women a special claim to be heard on the many questions which will +arise directly affecting their interests, and possibly meaning for +them large displacement of labour? I cannot think that the House will +deny that, and, I say quite frankly, that I cannot deny that claim." +It was clear the whole question of franchise would need to be gone +into--the soldiers' vote was lost to him under our system when he was +away, and the sailors' redistribution was long overdue, an election, +as things were, would be absolutely unrepresentative. So after several +attempts to deal with the problem in sections, a Committee was set +up under the Speaker of the House of Commons to go into the whole +question of Franchise reform and registration. + +The Committee was composed of five Peers and twenty-seven members of +the House of Commons, and started its work in October, 1916, and in +its report, April, 1917, it recommended, by a majority, that a measure +of enfranchisement should be given to women. + +The National Union of Women's Suffrage Societies and the Consultative +Committee, which had been formed in 1916 by the N.U.W.S.S., of +representatives of all constitutional societies, presented various +memorials, notably an admirable memorandum of women's work and opinion +in favour, prepared by the National Union for the Speakers' Conference +during its sittings. After its recommendations while the bill was +being drafted, Mrs. Henry Fawcett, LL.D., the President of the +N.U.W.S.S., headed a deputation received by the Premier, Mr. Lloyd +George, who has always been a supporter of Women's Suffrage. This was +certainly one of the most representative and interesting deputations +that ever went to Downing Street. It numbered over fifty and every +woman in it represented a great section of industrial and war +workers--Miss Mary MacArthur, the Trade Union Leader was there, and +Miss Margaret Bondfield, Mrs. Flora Annie Steele, the authoress; Lady +Forbes Robertson, for actresses; Miss Adelaide Anderson, our +Chief Women Factory Inspector; Mrs. Oliver Strachey, Parliamentary +Honourable Secretary of the National Union, whose work has been +tireless and invaluable in the House; a woman munition worker, a woman +conductor, a railway woman worker, a woman chemist, a woman from a +bank, a clerk, a shipyard worker, a nurse, a V.A.D., an eminent +woman Doctor, a peeress in Lady Cowdray, who has done so much for the +British Women's Hospitals and so many other war objects, and women +representatives of every calling in the nation at peace and war. Mrs. +Pankhurst, who has been very active in war work, was also present on +the Premier's invitation, and Mrs. Fawcett brought a Welshwoman who +made her plea in her own language, the Premier's own, too, and the one +he loves to hear. In his reply, he assured them the bill would contain +a measure of enfranchisement for women as drafted, and he was quite +sure the House would carry it. + +The recommendations of the Speakers' Conference were an agreed +compromise, and the Representation of the People Bill, as it was +called on its introduction, has gone through very much on the lines +of the recommendations. It arranges for postal or proxy votes for +the soldier, the sailor and the merchant seaman, it simplifies the +qualifications for men, it retains the University vote for men and +extends it to women, and it enfranchises women of thirty years of age +on a residence qualification, and all wives of voters of the same age. +It disfranchises, for the time, the conscientious objector who will do +no national service. The age at which our men vote is twenty-one. The +higher age of the women was a compromise, which was accepted by all +women's societies and by labour women, though it was not the terms +they stood for--equality. + +If we had it on the same terms as men, we should very greatly +outnumber the men. There were over a million more women than men +before the war and a new electorate greater than all the men's numbers +brought in at once was not considered wise. To press for it would have +wrecked our chances. + +This measure enfranchises six million women, and about ten million men +are now voters, so we have a very fair proportion. + +The women's clause was carried, with only thirty-five dissentients and +later only seventeen voted against it. + +In this same bill, with practically no discussion, an amendment was +carried enfranchising the wives of local government electors. + +It is difficult to adequately express the confidence, the desire, and +the willingness to co-operate, that there is now between our men and +women. + +We know, too, that the great woman's movement of our country, which +has worked to this end for fifty years and numbered our greatest women +among its adherents, has had much to do with the ability of our women +to take the great part they have in this crisis. If women had not +toiled and opened education and opportunities to women, and preached +the necessity of full service, we could not have done it. + +One great thing the war has done for our women is to draw us all +closely together--in common sorrows, hopes and fears, we find how much +we are one and in so much of our work women of every rank of life +are together. We had that union before in many ways, but never so +completely as now. _Punch_ has a delightful picture that summed up +how we are mixed in soldier's canteens, and huts and buffets, and +Hospitals, which show a little Londoner saying to a meek member of the +aristocracy "washing up," "Nar, then, Lady Halexandra, 'urry up with +them plaites," and we have an amusing little play of the same kind. +The society girl who washes down the Hospital steps, and washes up for +hours, and carries meals up and down stairs in her work, week after +week, and month after month, and year after year, in our Hospitals, +knows what work is now, and the soldier who is served, and the +soldier's sister and wife, learns something, too, about her that is +worth learning. + +We have also learned a great deal in our welfare work, and the welfare +supervisors and the workers both have benefited, and the heads of +the innumerable hostels, which we have built everywhere for our +girls--dozens in our new Government-built munition cities, have been +of very real help and service to the girls. A tactful, sensible, +educated woman has a great deal to give that helps the younger girl, +and can look after and advise her as to health, work, leisure and +amusements in a way that leaves real lasting benefit. + +In the munition works, well educated women, women with plenty of +money, women who never worked before, work year after year beside the +working girl. Just at first some of the working girls were not quite +sure of her, but it is all right long, long ago, and they mutually +admire each other. The well-off woman works her hours and takes her +pay, and takes it very proudly. I have been told many times by these +women who, for the first time know the joy of earning money, "I never +felt so proud in my life as when I got my first week's money." And the +men in the factories learn a lot, too. "Women have been too much kept +back," was the comment of a foreman in a shell factory to the Chief +Woman Factory Inspector on a visit she was paying to it. The skilled +men, teaching the women, have learned a great deal about them, too, +and have helped the women in so many ways. Men have been amazed at the +ability and power and capacity for work of the women and are, on the +whole, very willing to say so and express their admiration. + +One munition girl writes: "The timekeeper, quite a gorgeous gentleman +in uniform, gave us quite a welcome.... The charge-hand of the +Welder's shop helped us to start, and stayed with us most of Friday. +He was most kind, and showed us the best way to tackle each job, did +one for us, and then watched us doing it." + +Another says, "Our foreman is a dear old man, so kind and full of fun. +The men welders are awfully good to us." + +In considering the practical facts of new opportunities for women, one +thing is clear. Masses of our women took their new work as "temporary +war workers," but as the war has gone on, it has become clearer and +clearer that, in many cases, these tasks are going to be permanently +open to women. One reason is that many of the men will never return to +take up their work again--another, that many of them will never return +to what they did before. + +They have been living in the open-air, doing such different things, +such big vistas have opened out that they will never be content to +go back to some of their tasks. There is the other fact that we, +like every other country, will need to repair and renovate so much, +will need to create new and more industries, will need to add to our +productiveness to pay off our burdens of debt, and to carry out our +schemes of reconstruction, so women will still be needed. Our women, +in still greater numbers, will not be able to marry, and the best +thing for any nation and any set of women is to do work, and there +will be plenty of room for all the work our women can do. Many will go +back to home work, of course; there are large numbers who are working +in our country, only while their husbands are away, and when they +return will find their work in their homes again. + +We are offering special training opportunities to the young widow of +the soldier or officer. + +In special branches of work our opportunities are very much greater +and better. Medicine is one of the professions in which women have +very specially made good. Better training opportunities have opened, +more funds have been raised to enable women of small means to get +medical education, and the Queen herself gave a portion of a gift of +money she received, for this purpose. Most medical appointments are +open to them now and they have been urged by the great medical bodies +to enter for training in still greater numbers in the different +Universities, and have done so. + +More research is being done by them in every department. In +professions such as accountancy, architecture, analytical chemistry, +more and more women are entering. In the banking world women have done +very satisfactory work, and one London bank manager, asked to say what +he thought of prospects after the war, says he is very strongly of +opinion it will continue to be a profession for women after the war. +This manager thinks the question of higher administrative posts being +open to women will depend entirely on themselves and their work, and +what they prove capable of achieving and holding, they will certainly +have. + +In the war, one profession, in particular, has come nearer to finding +its rightful place than ever before--the teaching profession. Their +salaries which, in too many cases, were disgracefully low, have been +raised. The woman teacher has shown her capacity in new fields of +work in the boys' schools, but it is in another sense that their +profession, both men and women, but very specially the women, have +achieved a very real gain in the war. + +The teachers of the country have done a very great deal of war work +of every kind. The National Register of 1915 was largely done by their +labour. The War Savings Associations and Committees owe a great debt +to teachers and inspectors, who are the backbone of the movement, +headmistresses are asked constantly to help in securing trained women, +taught to work in Hospitals on their holidays, on land, in organizing +supplies and comforts in canteens and clubs, and more and more are put +on official Committees in their towns and districts. + +It means the teacher is finding the status and position the teachers +in their profession ought to have in their communities, and the war +has done a great deal towards achieving that desirable end, though +there is still a good deal to be done. + +In the Government Service there has undoubtedly been great +opportunities for women, especially those of organizing, executive and +secretarial ability--and in many cases the payment in higher posts +is identical for men and women, and higher posts, if they have the +ability, are freely given to women and the whole position of women +in our Civil Service is improved. In the very highest posts, such as +those of Insurance and Feeble-minded Commissioners, etc., women before +the war received the same salaries as men. + +The organizing ability and the common sense way in which our women +in voluntary organization, quite rapidly, themselves decided what +organizations were unnecessary and merely duplicating others, and +refused to help them, so that they died out quite quickly, roused +admiration, and the war has educated vast numbers of women in +organization and executive ability. Women who never in their lives +organized anything, and never kept an account properly, are doing +all kinds of useful work. One nice middle-aged lady whose War Savings +Association accounts were being kept wrongly, or rather were not +really being kept at all, when told they must be done fully and +correctly by one of our National Committee representatives, said, "Oh, +but you see, I never did anything but crochet before the war"; but we +have succeeded in making even the crochet ladies keep accounts and do +wonderful things. + +In the great world of mechanics and engineering, women are doing +a wonderful amount of work and, there is no doubt, will remain in +certain departments after the war. One danger there is in the women's +attitude--so many of our women have learned one branch of work very +quickly, that there probably will be a tendency to believe that +anything can be learned as easily. There are only certain departments +of mechanics that can be learned in a few months' time, and women will +probably go on doing these. Such work as theirs in optical munitions, +has shown their very special aptitude for it and in law-making, +etc., they will be used more and more. Women have successfully done +tool-setting and can go on with that. The training for civil and +mechanical engineering is long, but there will be, if women are +keen and will train, plenty of opportunity for them in peace-time +occupations in civil, mechanical or electrical branches in connection +with municipal, sanitary and household questions and in laundries, +farms, etc. The women architects and these women could very well +co-operate closely. + +Women clerks and secretaries will remain largely after the war. +Fewer men will want these posts as we are convinced there will be big +movements among our men to more active work, to the land and to the +Dominions overseas. + +Women on the land will in numbers stay there, and there is a distinct +movement among women with capital to go in for farming, market +gardening, bee-keeping, poultry-keeping, etc., still more. + +The war has made more of our fathers and mothers realize the right +of their daughters to education and training, and there are very few +parents in our country now, who think a girl needs to know nothing +very practical, and has no need to go in for a profession. Our women's +colleges have more students than ever and the war has done great +things in breaking down these old conventional ideas. The war, in +fact, has shaken the very foundations of the old Victorian beliefs in +the limited sphere of women to atoms. Our sphere is now very much more +what every human being's sphere is and ought to be--the place and work +in which our capacity, ability or genius finds its fullest vent--and +there is no need to worry about restricting women or anyone else to +particular spheres--if they cannot do it, they cannot fill the sphere, +and that test decides. The dear old Victorian dugouts grow fewer and +fewer in number, but we never must forget that the great powers of +women have not come in a night, miraculously, in the war. They are the +result of long years of patient work before, and we women, who have +had these great opportunities, must see to it that we nobly carry on +the traditions of teaching and training and qualifying ourselves for +service, bequeathed to us from older generations. + +One thing, too, despite the war tasks and strain, we have not lost +sight of the fact that the great fundamental tasks of keeping the +house, guarding and seeing to the children must be well done. Just for +a little, some of our tasks of child welfare had fewer workers, but +many of the women realized the value of all these tasks as supreme, +and took up the work freely. Child welfare work in particular the +Suffrage woman organized and worked, Glasgow Suffragists taking on the +visiting of babies, always done there, in a whole ward of the city, +and in other towns they started Day Nurseries. + +Lord Rhondda at the Local Government Board instituted Baby week and +we hope to found a Ministry of Health very soon. So in the War we have +realized even more vividly how great and valuable and important these +tasks of women are. A very great amount of work for child welfare has +been done by our women in the war, and our infant death rate is going +still lower. + +The war has done a great service in drawing women of all the Allied +Nations together--a service whose greatness and magnitude it is not +easy to fully realize. French and English men and women know so much +more of each other now. Our hospitals in France, our Canteens for +French Soldiers, as well as our own, our women and the French women +working side by side in our army clerical departments and ordnance +depots in France, the Belgians and French who are among us in such +large numbers, make us known to each other. In Serbia we have made +many friends and in Italy and Russia and Romania, all links for the +future, and helps to wider knowledge and understanding. It is on +understanding the hopes of the world rest, and we women have a great +part to play in that. + +With America our link has always been very great and all the help, +and gifts, and service America gave us before it entered the war, +have been very precious to us. American women have given Hospitals +and ambulances and everything possible in the way of succour and of +service, and have died with our women in nursing service, as the men +have in our ranks. + +Massachusetts sent a nurse to France, Miss Alice Fitzgerald, in memory +of Edith Cavell, which shows the unity of your feeling and ours +on that tragic execution, and her work under our War Office in +Queen Alexandra's Imperial Army Nursing Service with the British +Expeditionary Force, as well as the work of all the American nurses we +have had helping us, is another link in the great chain. Our own great +Commonwealth of Nations are nearer to each other than ever before. +There were even people among us who thought a little as the enemy did +that our Dominions would not stand by us--stupid and blind people. + +It is their fight as well as ours--the common fight of all free +peoples, and all our united nations stand together, including those +who only a few years ago were fighting us as brave foes. + +We have learned so much in great ways and in small ways, in economies +and in the care of all our resources, too. We women are more careful +in Britain now. We save food, and grow more, and produce more, and +maids and mistresses work together to economize and help. We gather +our waste paper and sell it or give it to the Red Cross for their +funds, give our bottles and our rags, waste no food and save and lend +our money. We could not have been called a thrifty nation before the +war--we are much more thrifty now, in many ways, though there are +still things we could learn. + +In the Women's Army and in so much of our work we are learning +discipline and united service--learning what it means to be proud of +your corps and to feel the uniform you wear or the badge is something +you must be worthy of--and it goes back to being worthy of your own +flag and of the ideals for which we all stand in these days. + +And the young wives who are married and left behind, who bear their +children with their husbands far away in danger, who have had no real +homes yet, but who wait and hope, they are very wonderful in their +courage and pluck--and, most of all, everywhere, our women, like our +men, wisely refuse to be dreary. There are enough secret dark hours, +but in our work we carry on cheerfully, the women know the soldiers' +slogan, "Cheero," and to Britain and to "somewhere on the fronts," the +same message goes and comes. + +Of the great spiritual worths and values, it has brought to women very +much what it has brought to men. All eternal things are more real, all +eternal truths more clearly perceived. When the whole foundations of +life rock under us, in where "there is no change, neither shadow of +turning," the heart rests more surely in these days. + +It has brought us agonies and tears, weariness and pain, self-denial +and great sorrows, but it has brought such riches of self-sacrifice, +such service, such love, has shown us such peaks of revelation and +vision to which the soul and the nation can attain, that we count +ourselves rich, though so much has gone. + +To think of what we might have been if we had refused to bear our +share--to look back on the evils of luxury and selfishness that were +creeping over us, makes us feel that we may have lost some things, +but "what shall it profit a man if he gain the whole world and lose +his own soul." And we have saved our soul. The souls of the nations +travail in a new birth through a night of agony and tears. The +purposes being worked out are so great, that it is difficult for us +to see them with our limited human vision, but in great moments of +insight we do see, and having seen, go back to our tasks in the light +of that vision, knowing that though now we fight in dim shadows with +monstrous and awful evils of mankind's creation, the day is coming +nearer and the light will come. + +An age is dying and a new age comes, and what it shall be only the men +and women of the world can answer. + + + + +RECONSTRUCTION + + + "The tumult and the shouting dies-- + The captains and the Kings depart-- + Still stands thine ancient sacrifice, + An humble and a contrite heart. + Lord God of Hosts; be with us yet, + Lest we forget, lest we forget." + + --RUDYARD KIPLING. + + "We shall not cease from mental fight, + Nor shall our sword sleep in our hand, + Till we have built Jerusalem, + In England's green and pleasant land." + + --W. BLAKE. + + + + +CHAPTER XIV + +RECONSTRUCTION + + +And what is to come after? The first and the last and the greatest +thing to do is to win the war and to get the right settlement. Unless +we finish this struggle with the nations free, there can be no real +reconstruction. The greatest work of reconstruction--the fundamental +work--will be at the peace table. Those who are giving everything +and doing everything to gain victory for the Allies, are the true +reconstructors of the world. + +The first great task of reconstruction is victory and the second is +right peace settlements. + +We cannot say that anything we can do will make future peace certain, +but we can see that just and righteous settlements are made, so that +the foundations are laid that ought to ensure peace in the future. +There is no real peace possible while injustices exist. + +There is no real peace possible while evil and good contend for +mastery, and the spiritual conflicts of man are, and will be, as +terrible as any physical conflicts. While mankind stands where it does +now, it is well that against corruption of spirit and thought, we can +use our bodies as shields. + +The fact that we have had to fight Germany physically, shows clearly +that spiritually and mentally we were unable to make them see truth +and honour, and the meaning of freedom, and that the ideal of peace +made no real appeal to them. + +They built up in their nation great thought forces of aggression, of +belief in militarism, of worship of might, of belief that war paid, +and was in itself good, that there was no conscience higher than the +state. They even worship God as a sort of tribal God whom they call +upon to work with them--not a question as to whether they are on God's +side--no--an assertion that God is on theirs. + +That was their thought--and the thoughts of the other nations were +bent on problems of freedom and growing democracy, of widening +opportunities, of political and commercial interest, were, on the +whole, the vaguely good thoughts of evolving democracies (with notable +exceptions), but not the clear powerful thoughts needed to fight +effectually those of Germany in the fields of intellect and spirit. + +People did not see the full evil of Germany's thought--it was tied up +with so much that was efficient and good and able, and we were only +half articulate as to our own beliefs, and not even thoroughly clear +or agreed about them, and Germany considered us slack and inefficient, +and believed we might even be induced to consent to seeing Europe +overrun and doing nothing. We did not believe, despite warning, that +any nation thought as Germany did and we seemed, in their minds, to be +people to be dominated and swept over. + +One interesting fact to note is that Germany, despite its boasted +knowledge of psychology, did not realise that England possesses a +definite sub-conscious mind which always guides its actions. The +sub-conscious mind of England is a desire for fair play, for justice, +and a very definite sense of freedom. England is the creator of +self-government and its sub-conscious mind, built up for centuries, +is a very definite and real thing. + +The sub-conscious mind of Germany, filled with these dominating ideas +of power and _Weltmacht_ and militarism, goes on, once set free, to +its logical end, and it seems clearer and clearer that there is no +real end to this struggle till we make the mind and soul of Germany +realize its crimes and mistakes, till they are sane again and talk the +A, B, C of civilization. The real reconstruction of the world begins +there. + +That end reached and settlements justly done, we may consider schemes +for a League of Nations and practical possibilities of work in +international organizations to prevent disputes leading to war. + +The work of reconstruction must be international, as well as national, +but the people who do, and will do, the best international work +are the people who do the best national work. The individuals who +are not prepared to spend time and service and effort to make +their own country better and nobler, are going to do nothing for +internationalism that is worth doing. The heart that finds nothing to +love and work for in its neighbour is the heart that has nothing to +bring to the whole world. + +Again, there must be reparation by the enemy. We cannot reconstruct +this world rightly if we do not enforce justice. A nation that has +broken every international and human law is a nation that must be made +to pay for its crimes as far as human justice can secure it. + +Our six thousand murdered merchant seamen, the thousands of passengers +they have killed, the civilians they have bombed, are marshalled +against them, and the horrors of their frightfulness, deliberately +planned and carried out against the peoples they have held in bondage, +their refusal to even feed properly their prisoners and captive +people--are we to be told to reconstruct a world without reparation +for these and their other crimes? + +We shall have a reconstructed world with right foundations, only when +the nations know that justice is throned internationally, and that +every crime is to be judged and punished. There can be no new world +without living faith, without real religion. A cheap and sentimental +humanitarism is no substitute for real faith--philosophies that seem +adequate in ordinary times are poor things when the soul of man +stands stripped of all its trappings and faces death and suffering and +watches agonies. Then the abiding eternal soul knows its own reality +and its oneness with the Divine and eternal, and the sacrifice of +Christ is a real living thing--and in the men's sacrifice they are +very near to Him. + +So the Churches are being tested, too, in this great crisis, and in a +reconstructed world we shall want Churches that carry the message of +Christianity with a clearer and firmer voice, but that is the task of +all believers. We cannot cast the duty of making the Church a living +witness on our priests alone--it is our work, and unless our faith +goes into everything we do, it is no use. People who profess a faith, +and carefully shut it up in a compartment of their lives, so that +it has no real connection with their work, are worse than honest +doubters--because they betray what they profess. + +So reconstruction rests upon great spiritual tasks and values, and +upon the willingness and ability of the nations to carry these out. + +In our country, our political parties are going to be changed and +reconstructed. The Labour Party has already made a big appeal +to "brain and hand workers," and has announced its scheme of +re-organization. + +One definite result of the war in the minds of the people of our +country is the definite mental discarding of state socialism of the +bureaucratic kind as a conceivable system of government. We have seen +bureaucracy at work to a great extent, and shall undoubtedly have +to continue control in many ways after peace comes, but we do not +like it. Socialism will have to go on to new lines of thought and +development if it wishes to achieve anything--and the most interesting +thought and schemes are on the lines of Guild Socialism. + +How the great Liberal and Unionist Parties will emerge, we cannot +say--but this we know, they will be different. We have a new +electorate, more men and the women, and the opinion and needs of the +women will undoubtedly affect our political reconstruction. Most of +us, in the war, have entirely ceased to care for party; even the most +fierce of partisans have changed, and the "party appeal," in itself, +will be of little account in our country. + +I feel sure we shall scrutinize measures and men and programmes more +carefully, and the work of educating our women will be part of the +women's great tasks in reconstruction. + +Our ability to reconstruct and renew rests fundamentally upon our +financial condition--even the power to make the best peace terms rests +upon it. Crippled countries cannot stand out for the best terms, so +finance is all-important. + +The democratic nature of our loans is all-important, too. We have had +people suggesting that these loans would be repudiated--a suggestion +that is not only absurd, but is humorous when one realizes that about +ten million of our people have invested in them. To get a House of +Commons elected that would repudiate these loans would be a difficult +task. + +The widespread nature of the loans is sound for the people and the +Government, and will help us not only to win the war, but, what is +still more important, "to win the peace." We have in this struggle +paid more and better wages to our people than ever before, conditions +have been improved, masses of our people have led a fuller existence +than ever before. We want to make these and still better conditions +permanent. We cannot do that by a military victory only--we can only +do it by finishing financially sound, and the man or woman who saves +now and invests is one of our soundest reconstructors. + +In the readjustments in industry that must come there will be +temporary displacements, and the money invested will be invaluable +to those affected. In our great task of reorganizing industries, of +renovating and repairing, of building up new works and adding to our +productiveness, finance is all-important. We shall need large sums for +the development of our industry, for the transferring of war work back +to peace pursuits, for the opening up of new industries and work, for +the development of trade abroad and the selfish using up of resources +that could be conserved, makes the work harder--might even, if +extravagantly large, cripple us seriously at the end of this struggle. + +The sacrifices of our men can achieve military victory, but weakness +and self-indulgence at home can take the fruits of their victories +away. + +Those who are working and saving in our War Savings Movement are so +convinced of its value, not only to the state, but to the individual, +and for the character of our people, that they have expressed the very +strongest conviction that it should go on after the War, and it will +probably remain in our reconstruction. + +We have also urged the wisdom of saving for the children's education +and for dots for daughters, so that our young women may have some +money in emergencies, or something of their own on marriage, and both +of these are being done. + +The great problem of education bulks very large in our reconstruction +schemes. A new Education Bill for England and Wales has been prepared +by Mr. Fisher--and his appointment is in itself a sign of our new +attitude. He is Minister of Education and is really an educationist, +having been Vice-Chancellor of Sheffield University when given the +appointment. His Bill puts an end to that stigma on English education, +the half-time system in Lancashire, and raises the age for leaving +school to what it has been in Scotland for some years--sixteen years +of age. It provides greater opportunities for secondary and technical +training and improves education in every way. Its passage, or the +passage of a still better Bill, is essential for any real work in +reconstruction. + +There are other schemes of education being planned and considered, and +women are working with men on the education committee of the Ministry +of Reconstruction. + +The land question is all-important in reconstruction. We have fixed a +minimum price for wheat for five years, as well as minimum wages for +the labourers on land, men and women, and we have schemes and land +for the settlement of soldiers. It is safe to predict that agriculture +will be better looked after than it was before the war, and that we +have learned a valuable lesson on food production, and the value of +being more self-supporting. + +There are people who talk airily and foolishly of "revolutions after +the war"--of great labour troubles, of exorbitant and impossible +demands, of irreconcilable quarrels. These people are themselves the +creators and begettors of trouble, and mischievous in the highest +degree. They belong, though they are much less attractive, to the same +category as the person who tells you that the moral regeneration of +the world is coming from this great war. + +The "revolutionists" have to learn that there is no need to have any +such crises happen, that they can only happen if we are foolish beyond +belief and conception--for we have learned in this war how great and +ample is the common meeting ground of all of us, how impossible it is +for anyone to believe that we, who have fought together, suffered +and lost together, while our men have died together, cannot find in +consideration of claims enough common sense and wisdom to prevent any +such disaster. + +And one wonders where the people are going to be found who are going +to be so unjust to the workers as to provide any reason for such +dangers to be feared, for we know one thing in the war, that in the +trenches, on the sea, behind the trenches and carrying on at home, the +workers have done the greater part--and they, in their turn, know all +others have borne their share. Out of such common knowledge and the +consciousness that the practical work of democracy is to raise its +people more and more, we shall have not revolution, but evolution of +the best kind. And the moral regeneration of the world will come if we +reconstruct the one thing that matters most and that is fundamental +to all--ourselves--and it will not come if we do not. When one +has said everything there is to be said of schemes and hopes of +reconstruction--about the schemes for better homes, and a great +housing scheme is wisely one of the foundation schemes of our +reconstruction, for which plans are now being prepared, about schemes +for the care of children, about schemes for endowment of motherhood, +which are exercising the minds of many of our women, you are back +again to the individual. When you think of education schemes, and +schemes for teaching national service to the young, of work to +teach care and thrift, you are back again to the problem of creating +character. + +When you go into the great world of industry and its problems, of care +of the workers in health and sickness, of securing justice and full +opportunities, of developing and wisely using our resources, again you +return to the individual. + +When you want to make the art and beauty of life accessible to all, +you come back to the question as to the individual's desire for it and +appreciation of it. + +Schemes in theory may be perfect--reconstruction may be planned +without a flaw--but what does that help if we as individuals are blind +and selfish? + +The regeneration of the world cannot come from the sacrifice of our +men alone, or even of some of us at home. The few may save countries +and do great things, but the work of reconstruction rests on +everybody. Nations are made up of individuals, and a nation cannot +hope for moral and social regeneration except through individual +self-denial, self-sacrifice and service. + +It is in our own hearts and our own minds that the great task of +reconstruction must be done. + +The greatest task of reconstruction for most of us is to make all +our actions worthy of our highest self--to bring to the problems that +confront us, not one detached and prejudiced bit of us, but the whole +mind and spirit of ourselves--the best of us always in unity. + +That is life's greatest task, and calls for all we have to give, and +all we are. There lies true reconstruction and the hope of all the +world. + + + + +APPENDIX + + + + +APPENDIX + + +American Women's War Relief Fund, 123 Victoria Street, London, S.W. 1. + +Association of Infant Consultation and Schools for Mothers, 4 +Tavistock Square, London, W.C. 1. + +British Women's Hospital, Bond Street, London, W. 1. + +Glove Waistcoat Society, 75 Chancery Lane, E.C. 4. + +Ministry of Food, Mrs. Pember Reeves, Mrs. C.S. Peel, Grosvenor House, +W. 1. + +National Federation of Women's Workers. + +Women's Trade Union League, 34 Mecklenburgh Square, W.C. 1. + +National Union of Women's Suffrage Societies. + +Scottish Women's Hospitals, 62 Oxford Street, W.C. 1. + +Women's Interests Committee, 62 Oxford Street, W.C.I. + +National War Savings Committee, Salisbury Square, E.C. 4. + +National Union of Women Workers (Women Patrols), Parliament Mansions, +Victoria Street, S.W.I. + +Queen Mary's Needlework Guild, St. James Palace, S.W.I. + +National Food Economy League, 3 Woodstock Street, Oxford Street, +W.C.I. + +Prisoners of War, Help Committee, 4 Thurloe Place, Brompton Road, W. + +Women's Army Auxiliary Corps, Devonshire House, W. 1. + +Women's Branch, Food Production Department, Board of Agriculture, 72 +Victoria Street, S.W.I. + +Women's Service Bureau, L.S.W.S., 58 Victoria Street, S.W. 1. + +Women's National Land Service Corps, 50 Upper Baker Street, W. 1. + +Women Police Service, St. Stephens House, Westminster, S.W.I. + +Young Women's Christian Association, 25 George Street, Hanover Square, +W. 1. + +V.A.D., Lady Ampthill, Devonshire House, W. 1. + + * * * * * + +MINISTRY OF MUNITIONS + + + +PUBLICATIONS OF HEALTH OF MUNITION WORKERS' COMMITTEE + + +The following Memoranda have been prepared by the Committee and +issued: + +No. 1--Sunday Labour. + +No. 2--Welfare Supervision. + +No. 3--Industrial Canteens. + +No. 4--Employment of Women. + +No. 5--Hours of Work. + +No. 6--Canteen Construction and Equipment (Appendix to No. 3). + +No. 7--Industrial Fatigue and Its Causes. No. 8--Special Industrial +Diseases. + +No. 9--Ventilation and Lighting of Munition Factories and Workshops. + +No. 10--Sickness and Injury. + +No. 11--Investigation of Workers' Food and Suggestions as to Dietary. +(Report by Leonard E. Hill, F.R.S.) + +No. 12--Statistical Information Concerning Output in Relation to Hours +of Work. (Report by H.M. Vernon, M.D.) + +No. 13--Juvenile Employment. + +No. 14--Washing Facilities and Baths. + +No. 15--The Effect of Industrial Conditions Upon Eyesight. + +No. 16--Medical Certificates for Munition Workers. + +also, Feeding the Munition Worker. + + +Published by H.M. STATIONERY OFFICE, + +London, W.C. + + + + + +--------------------------------------------------------------+ + |You have read this book and you will agree with the Publisher | + |that it ought to have an immediate and wide distribution. Will| + |you help him to eliminate wasteful advertising by sending the | + |post card enclosed, giving your opinion of the book to one of | + |your friends. | + \ / + \ / + ---------------------------------------------------------- + | AND | + ---------------------------------------------------------- + / \ + / \ + |Since you have probably seen the imprint of G. Arnold Shaw | + |on a book for the first time, will you spend a few minutes | + |scanning the following pages, to discover what the best | + |critical opinion is upon other recent Shaw publications. They | + |are intended for the discriminating few as our trademark, | + |"Aere Perennius"--"more lasting than brass," indicates. | + +--------------------------------------------------------------+ + + + +BOOKS BY MEMBERS OF THE UNIVERSITY LECTURERS + +A significant proof of the growth of the Association's influence in +recent years is afforded by the fact that our Secretary, Mr. G. Arnold +Shaw, has been enabled to enter the publishing field successfully. We +reverse thus the plan of campaign of the ordinary lecture bureau which +is usually impressed with the possibilities of a man who has won fame +as an author rather than as a lecturer; we discover that a man is a +first rate lecturer and then we proceed to make him an author--also of +the front rank as the reviews quoted below show. + +ART AND ARCHITECTURE + +BY IAN C. HANNAH, F.S.A. + + Some Irish Religious Houses........ .50 + Irish Cathedrals................... .50 + +BY I.B. STOUGHTON HOLBORN + + The Need for Art in Life. (Third Thousand)........... .75 + "One of the greatest little books of the Age."--Boston Transcript. + + Architectures of European Religions, Illustrated.... 2.00 + +AUTOBIOGRAPHY + +The interest of these books depend not merely upon the interesting +personality of the famous lecturer and the equally fascinating +personalities of his two brothers, but also on the exquisite literary +style to which the critics have paid such eloquent testimony. + +BY JOHN COWPER POWYS AND LLEWELLYN POWYS + + Confessions of Two Brothers....... 1.50 + +BY THEODORE FRANCIS POWYS + + The Soliloquy of a Hermit......... 1.00 + This book can be compared to Amiel's Journal in the opinion of a + prominent London publisher. + + + + +ESSAYS AND CRITICISM + + +The essays contained in the following books deal with the best lecture +subjects of our various members; they are specially recommended to +those who wish to pursue further the study outlined in our lecture +courses. + +BY I.B. STOUGHTON HOLBORN + + THE NEED FOR ART IN LIFE........... 75 + + "The thoughtful man who reads it will feel that a new + classic has been added to the world's literature."--BOSTON + TRANSCRIPT. + + +BY JOHN COWPER POWYS + + VISIONS AND REVISIONS, A Book of Literary Devotions 2.00 + + "Seventeen essays remarkable for the omission of all that is + tedious and cumbersome in literary appreciations."--REVIEW + OF REVIEWS. + + + SUSPENDED JUDGMENTS, Essays on Books and Sensations 2.00 + + "Anything written by John Cowper Powys is arresting and thrilling. + This is superlatively true of his essays in literary + criticism."--CINCINNATI ENQUIRER. + + "A book of infinite delight to the book lover, for few present day + writers have the ability in the same measure as Mr. Powys + to express every shade of impression and sensation, and + his ripe judgment will appeal to all."--BOSTON GLOBE. + + + ONE HUNDRED BEST BOOKS, with commentary and an + essay on Books and Reading.............. 75 + + "Of each of the hundred books he gives a brief, sparkling, + thoroughly informative and delightfully interesting + critical view. If book reviewers could do the job as well + as Mr. Powys, the book pages would be the most popular + part of a newspaper."--EVENING TELEGRAM, PHILADELPHIA. + + * * * * * + +FICTION + + +Critics of literature seldom succeed as creative artists and so it +is specially remarkable that the highest authorities give even more +unqualified praise to the fiction of our members than to their +essays. We need not emphasize further our lack of appreciation for +the literary value of "best-sellers"; our aim has not been to produce +topical tracts for the times but novels that will survive. It is more +to us that competent critics should compare Mr. Powys' fiction to that +of Hardy, Dostoievsky and Emily Bronte than that the public should buy +it by the hundred thousand. Those who are not convinced that "you can +place 'Wood and Stone' unhesitatingly at the side of Dostoievsky's +masterpieces" should reflect that this is not the over-enthusiasm of +"America's newest Publisher" but the verdict of a London publisher +who has long held a pre-eminent position; it is therefore peculiarly +satisfactory to point out that our first novel "Wood and Stone" was + +PUBLISHED UNDER THE IMPRINT OF + +WILLIAM HEINEMANN G. ARNOLD SHAW + + [Illustration] [Illustration] + + IN LONDON IN NEW YORK + +FICTION + + BY IAN CAMPBELL HANNAH + QUAKER-BORN, A ROMANCE OF THE GREAT WAR............ 1.35 + + BY I.B. STOUGHTON HOLBORN + THE CHILD OF THE MOAT, A story of 1557 for girls... 1.25 + "Of such absorbing interest and literary merit that it + will doubtless take its place among the classics."--ART + AND ARCHAEOLOGY. + + BY JOHN COWPER POWYS + WOOD AND STONE, A Romance reminiscent of the + great Dostoievsky ................................. 1.75 + + "One of the best novels of the year."--EVENING POST, + NEW YORK. + + "His mastery of language, his knowledge of human + impulses, his interpretation of the forces of nature + and of the power of inanimate objects over human + beings, all pronounce him a writer of no mean rank. + He can express philosophy in terms of narrative + without prostituting his art; he can suggest an + answer without drawing a moral; with a clearer + vision he could stand among the masters in literary + achievement."--BOSTON TRANSCRIPT. + + "Psychologically speaking, it is one of the most remarkable + pieces of fiction ever written."--CHICAGO TRIBUNE. + + RODMOOR, A Romance of the old Thrilling Romantic + Order............1.50 + + "It is so far above the average English and American + fiction that one can well exempt it from the necessity + of following the rules. He has intellect, he has taste, + he has a sure instinct for what is aesthetically fine. + These qualities in themselves make his 'Rodmoor' a + novel of exceptional distinction."--BOSTON TRANSCRIPT. + + "Without exception the most exquisitely written + novel of the year."--ATLANTIC MONTHLY. + +HISTORY AND TRAVEL + + BY IAN CAMPBELL HANNAH, M.A., D.C.L., F.S.A. + Eastern Asia, A history 2.50 + Capitals of the Northlands, A Tale of ten cities 2.00 + The Heart of East Anglia (A History of Norwich) 2.00 + The Berwick and Lothian Coast 2.00 + + +POETRY + + BY I.B. STOUGHTON HOLBORN + CHILDREN OF FANCY 2.00 + "A Notable volume of Verse."--Boston Globe. + + BY JOHN COWPER POWYS + WOLF'S-BANE 1.25 + "We hesitate to say how many years it is necessary + to go back in order to find their equals in + sheer poetic originality."--Evening Post, New York. + MANDRAGORA 1.25 + + +THE WAR + + BY IAN CAMPBELL HANNAH + ARMS AND THE MAP 1.25 + + BY JOHN COWPER POWYS + THE WAR AND CULTURE .60 + "More weighty than many of the more pretentious + treatises on the subject."--The Nation. + +Any of the above books sent post-free on receipt of price by + +[Illustration: (G. ARNOLD SHAW PUBLISHER, NEW YORK)] + + * * * * * + +RECOMMENDED BY THE A.L.A. BOOKLIST + +SPECIALLY SUITABLE FOR SCHOOLS AND COLLEGES + +ARMS AND THE MAP + +A STUDY IN NATIONALITIES AND FRONTIERS + +BY IAN CAMPBELL HANNAH, M.A., D.C.L. + +12mo, 256 pages, $1.25 net + +This work, which has had a large sale in England, will be invaluable +when the terms of peace begin to be seriously discussed. Every +European people is reviewed and the evolution of the different +nationalities is carefully explained. Particular reference is made +to the so-called "Irredentist" lands, whose people want to be under +a different flag from that under which they live. + +The colonizing methods of all the nations are dealt with, and +especially the place in the sun that Germany hasn't got. + + NEW YORK TIMES says: "Such a volume as this will undoubtedly + be of value in presenting ... facts of great importance in a + brief and interesting fashion." + + BROOKLYN DAILY EAGLE says: "It is hard to find a man who + presents his arguments so broad-mindedly as Dr. Hannah. His + spirit is that of a catholic scholar striving earnestly to + find the truth and present it sympathetically." + + PHILADELPHIA NORTH AMERICAN says: "It is in no sense history, + but rather a preparatory effort to mark broadly the outlines + of any future peace settlement that would have even a fighting + chance of permanency. Only in perusing a critical study of + this character can the vast problems of post-bellum imminence + be fully apprehended." + + PHILADELPHIA PRESS says: "His work is immensely readable and + particularly interesting at this time and will throw much + fresh light on the situation." + +OTHER BOOKS BY IAN C. HANNAH + + Eastern Asia, A History $2.50 + Capitals of the Northlands (A tale of ten cities) 2.00 + The Berwick and Lothian Coast (in the County Coast Series) 2.00 + The Heart of East Anglia (A History of Norwich) 2.00 + Some Irish Religious Houses (Reprinted from the + _Archaeological Journal_) 50c + Irish Cathedrals (Reprinted from the _Archaeological Journal_) 50c + +G. ARNOLD SHAW PUBLISHER TO THE UNIVERSITY LECTURERS ASSOCIATION + + * * * * * + +GRAND CENTRAL TERMINAL NEW YORK + + * * * * * + +RECOMMENDED BY THE A.L.A. BOOKLIST + +ADOPTED FOR REQUIRED READING BY THE PITTSBURGH TEACHERS READING CIRCLE + +VISIONS AND REVISIONS + +A BOOK OF LITERARY DEVOTIONS + +BY JOHN COWPER POWYS + +8vo, 298 pp. Half White Cloth with Blue Fabriano Paper Sides, $2.00 +net + +This volume of essays on Great Writers by the well-known lecturer +was the first of a series of three books with the same purpose as the +author's brilliant lectures; namely, to enable one to discriminate +between the great and the mediocre in ancient and modern literature: +the other two books being "One Hundred Best Books" and "Suspended +Judgments." + +Within a year of its publication, four editions of "Visions and +Revisions" were printed--an extraordinary record considering that +it was only the second book issued by a new publisher. The value of +the book to the student and its interest for the general reader are +guaranteed by the international fame of the author as an interpreter +of great literature and by the enthusiastic reviews it received from +the American Press. + + REVIEW OF REVIEWS, New York: "Seventeen essays ... remarkable + for the omission of all that is tedious and cumbersome + in literary appreciations, such as pedantry, muckraking, + theorizing, and, in particular, constructive criticism." + + BOOK NEWS MONTHLY, Philadelphia: "Not one line in the entire + book that is not tense with thought and feeling. With + all readers who crave mental stimulation ... 'Visions and + Revisions' is sure of a great and enthusiastic appreciation." + + THE NATION AND THE EVENING POST, New York: "Their imagery is + bright, clear and frequently picturesque. The rhythm falls + with a pleasing cadence on the ear." + + BROOKLYN DAILY EAGLE: "A volume of singularly acute and + readable literary criticism." + + CHICAGO HERALD: "An essayist at once scholarly, human and + charming is John Cowper Powys.... Almost every page carries + some arresting thought, quaintly appealing phrase, or picture + spelling passage." + + REEDY'S MIRROR, St. Louis: "Powys keeps you wide awake in the + reading because he's thinking and writing from the standpoint + of life, not of theory or system. Powys has a system but it is + hardly a system. It is a sort of surrender to the revelation + each writer has to make." + + KANSAS CITY STAR: "John Cowper Powys' essays are wonderfully + illuminating.... Mr. Powys writes in at least a semblance of + the Grand Style." + +"Visions and Revisions" contains the following essays:-- + + Rabelais Dickens Thomas Hardy + Dante Goethe Walter Pater + Shakespeare Matthew Arnold Dostoievsky + El Greco Shelley Edgar Allan Poe + Milton Keats Walt Whitman + Charles Lamb Nietzsche Conclusion + +G. ARNOLD SHAW PUBLISHER TO THE UNIVERSITY LECTURERS ASSOCIATION + +GRAND CENTRAL TERMINAL NEW YORK + + * * * * * + +SUSPENDED JUDGMENTS + +ESSAYS ON BOOKS AND SENSATIONS + +BY JOHN COWPER POWYS + +8vo. about 400 pages. Half cloth with blue Fabriano paper sides $2.00 +net + +_The Book News Monthly_ said of "Visions and Revisions": + +"Not one line in the entire book that is not tense with thought and +feeling." + +The author of "Visions and Revisions" says of this new book of essays: + +"In 'Suspended Judgments' I have sought to express with more +deliberation and in a less spasmodic manner than in 'Visions,' the +various after-thoughts and reactions both intellectual and sensational +which have been produced in me, in recent years, by the re-reading of +my favorite writers. I have tried to capture what might be called the +'psychic residuum' of earlier fleeting impressions and I have tried +to turn this emotional aftermath into a permanent contribution--at any +rate for those of similar temperament--to the psychology of literary +appreciation. + +"To the purely critical essays in this volume I have added a certain +number of others dealing with what, in popular parlance, are called +'general topics,' but what in reality are always--in the most extreme +sense of that word--personal to the mind reacting from them. I have +called the book 'Suspended Judgments' because while one lives, one +grows, and while one grows, one waits and expects." + +SUSPENDED JUDGMENTS CONTAINS THESE ESSAYS: + +THE ART OF DISCRIMINATION IN LITERATURE + + MONTAIGNE EMILY BRONTE + PASCAL JOSEPH CONRAD + VOLTAIRE HENRY JAMES + ROUSSEAU OSCAR WILDE + BALZAC AUBREY BEARDSLEY + VICTOR HUGO + DE MAUPASSANT FRIENDS + ANATOLE FRANCE RELIGION + PAUL VERLAINE LOVE + REMY DE GOURMONT CITIES + WILLIAM BLAKE MORALITY + BYRON EDUCATION + +G. ARNOLD SHAW PUBLISHER TO THE UNIVERSITY LECTURERS ASSOCIATION + + GRAND CENTRAL TERMINAL NEW YORK + + * * * * * + + +ONE HUNDRED BEST BOOKS + +WITH COMMENTARY AND AN ESSAY ON + +BOOKS AND READING + +BY JOHN COWPER POWYS + + +This list is designed to supply the need of persons who wish to +acquire a general knowledge of such books in world-literature as are +at once exciting and thrilling to the ordinary mind and written in the +style of the masters. It recognizes the fact that modern people are +most interested in modern books; but it recognizes also that such +books, to be worthy of this interest, must uphold the classical +tradition of manner and form. + +80 Pages 12mo. 75 Cents + +[Illustration: (G. ARNOLD SHAW PUBLISHER. NEW YORK)] + + + +***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK WOMEN AND WAR WORK*** + + +******* This file should be named 14676.txt or 14676.zip ******* + + +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: +https://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/1/4/6/7/14676 + + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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