LABOR POWER IN ENGLAND Mr. Lloyd George became the man naturally selected to be Prime Minister because of his success in directing one of the chief war industries--the work of munitions. In May, 1915, when he was made head of the newly created Department of Munitions, the problem before him was no easy one. The Central Empires were able to turn out 250,000 shells a day, while the British rate of production was 2,500 high-explosive shells a day, and 13,000 shrapnel shells. Lloyd George selected a large technical staff; the work was decentralized as much as possible, and special committees were formed for the purpose of organizing the work in each district. The question of raw materials had to be handled and this was not always easy because there were unscrupulous suppliers trying to make a corner in their goods. New machinery had to be made for the manufacture of large shells; all the big machine works were taken under direct control by the Government. Old factories had to be equipped and altered and twenty-six large plants had to be created. To provide the labor power, workmen were recruited by voluntary methods. A hundred thousand were in this way got together by July, 1915, most of whom were experts in machinery and ship-building. The result is pictured in the following extract by a French expert, Jules Destrée: "On the 20th of December, 1915, Mr. Lloyd George, in a speech delivered in the House of Commons, summarized the results of the first six months of his tenure of office. We will take a few points. "Orders placed before the formation of the department were delivered with an increase of 16 per cent. on previous deliveries. The number of new orders placed increased by 80 per cent. "The state regulation of the metal market resulted in a saving of from 15 to 20 million pounds sterling. "The present output of shells for a single week is three times as great as the entire output for May, 1915, which means that the rate of production is twelve times as great. "The enormous quantity of shells consumed during the offensive of September, 1915, was made good in a month. The time will soon come when a week will suffice. "The output of machine guns is five times as great; that of hand grenades is increased forty fold. "The production of heavy artillery has been accelerated, and the heaviest guns of the early days of the war are now among the lightest. "An explosive factory in the south of England, which on October 15, 1915, started to fill bombs at the rate of 500 a week with a staff of 60, was in March, 1916, turning out 15,000 a week with a staff of 250. "An entirely new factory which started work at the end of October, 1915, with one filling shed and six girl fillers and an output of 270 a week, was in March, 1916, employing 175 girls and handling 15,000 bombs a week.