he had to fit the old established Ordnance
Department rooted in tradition and jealous of its prerogatives into the
new scheme of things.

Lloyd George was no business man, but he knew how business affairs
should be conducted. He knew, too, that America had reared the empire of
business on close knit and efficient organisation. He did what Andrew
Carnegie or any other captain of capital would do. He called together
the Schwabs, the Edisons, the Garys and the Westinghouses of the Kingdom
and made them his work fellows.

From every corner of the Empire he drafted brains and experience. He
wanted workers without stint, so he started a Bureau of Labor Supply: he
needed publicity, so he set up an Advertising Department: to compete
with the Germans he realised that he would need every inventive resource
that England could command, so he founded an Invention and Research
Bureau: he saw the disorganisation attending the output of shells in
private establishments, so he planted the Union Jack in nearly every
mill and took over the control of British Industry: he found labour at
its old trick of impeding progress, so with a Munitions Act he
practically conscripted the men of forge and mill into an industrial
army that was almost under martial law. He cut red tape and injected red
blood into the Department that meant national preservation. In brief,
Lloyd George was on the job and things were happening.

The Minister established himself in an old mansion in Whitehall Garden
where belles and beaux had danced the stately minuet. It became a dynamo
of energy whose wires radiated everywhere. "More Munitions" was the
creed that flew from the masthead.

A typical thing happened. The working force of the Ministry grew by
leaps and bounds: already the hundreds of clerks were jam up against the
confining walls of the old grey building. Lloyd George sent for one of
his lieutenants and said:

"We must have more room."

"We have already reported that fact and the War Office says it will take
three months to build new office space," was the reply.

"Then put up tents," snapped the little man, "and we will work under
canvas."

Realising that his principal weapons were machines, Lloyd George took a
census of all the machinery in the United Kingdom and got every pound of
productive capacity down on paper. He was not long in finding out why
the ammunition output was shy. Only a fifth of the lathes and tools used
for Government work ran a