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Tfie Commoner
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VOL. 16,iN,0. ,1
10
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Origin of the World's War Scares
From a speech by Mr. Philip Snowden before
tho British Houhc of Commons, March 18, 1014.
What are Ilia obstacles In the way of a sub
stantial reduction of this expenditure? Why i
It mounting up? The governments not only
our own government, but tho governments of all
the European nations profess to deplore it.
Tho only speech I have heard upon tho question
by a .responsible minister in recent years who
did not deplore It and who did not make an ap
peal Vor a better understanding between the na
tions, of Europe was the first lord of the admiral
ty yesterday. The only thing in, which he .appeared-to
glory was that even the smaller na
tlons'of Europe were now getting a mania for a
flootand"wcro trying to emulate the example set
thorn i jjy, the great nations of Europe. What, in
splto- ofc'thcso conditions, Is the obstacle In tho
way of-'a bettor understanding? Lord Welby,
who lifts 'hold the highest and most responsible
poslUoii1 its' a permanent civil servant in' this
oountbCwho wrfs at the heart' of. the treasury;
who Is V man of worldwide reputa'ti6n in Mat
ters of Hnnndal knowledge, and a. man of sterl
ing rnVblfy, was 'speaking oil this 'question 'a few1
wcqks' uo, and ho said 1 '' '''.'. ."'
",Wp ape in tho hands of an .organization', of .
cn'oqjuj,. v Tshqy a,ro politicians, generals, manu-'..
factur,orr o.f armaments' and journalists. Al ;of.
them Hi'et'taiixious oi unlimUctf, expenditure,, iniil ,
go on.4aventing scares to ier'rify the, public, and.
to terrify ministers' of the crown,.",' . '. K.,
The, at,Q. permanent secretary, lo the. treasury
says,:,.. . , , . . :'.
MWe are in the. lunula 'Of a,n iorganizatjpnnof
crooks.'1 ' ' ':.
I rqferred to tho slang dictionary to see what ,
wasfhe, 'meaning of 'erodlcs.''''" i' w(is fairiillaV'
with U only as the name of-'ar Very p6pular arid'
voryJ, v&e'eful nie'mbef of this house. -When I
turiMrhp tho mfcahing of this Word In the die
tlona'rjr'X found 'that the Wme wertl may vdry
of toff f rbpresent very diiVe'reilt things. 'I ilnd "
that iWddflnlti'on of "a crook'is it is an 'Ugly
woi'lf a' thief," "a swindler," va 'man' who
gains' If Is ends by crooked wrtyg." Let its trans
late 't&rd Wclby's words. Ho says: '
Vjo,fre In tho hands 'of a'n., organizAt'lpn of
thieves!. jSwlndlors! They are politicians, gen
eral, Manufacturers of armaments, and ajl of
them ar.6, anxious for unlimited -expenditure, all
go on .inventing scares to ..errify the. public and
to terrify tho ministers of the crown." , ,
That is an extremely, serious charge to. bo
madO'jiby a responsible pxipublio servant like
Lord Welby. Can.lt be. substantiated? I ven
ture to. submit to this house thatlt can be sub
stantiated up to the hilt. .We had a scare in
190ft. That was not the first scare of the same
character If time would permit 1 could go
through half a dozen previous scares and show
that tho -features of each were precisely the
same, . They were all engineered during a. time ,
of trade depression and engineered for the pur
pose' of forcing governments to spend money in
the provision of additional armaments. 1 am
not going to deal at any length with the. scare of
1900. It Is so recent and the facts that later
came. to light wore so remarkable that possibly
the incidents are fairly well known, What was
the state of trade in the shipbuilding world, and
in many of the armament, firms at tho time when
the scare was introduced? In the early part of
1909, Earl Cawdor, who presided at tho Institu
tion of Naval Architects, said:
"During tho past twelve mont..s, with the ex
ception of tho 'Vanguard' building at Barrow,
not one British battleship has been laid down
in a private .shipbuilding yard at, home."
Tho "Naval Annual" goes on to make a some-
what similar statement. I como to. a statement
made just about tho same time by a gentleman
who at that time was a momber of this house
but who has since been translated to other re
gions. He was then knava..asSir. Charles Mac
Laren. He was the. chair-nan. and director of
more than one. ofi these armament firms. . Sir,
Charles MacLaren, at the annual moeting of
John Brown and Co., of which ho is. chairman
"Things were bad twelve m6nths ago, and. he
was sorry to say they were bad still. He had
seen no evidence of improvement during the past
twelve months, and really there was very little
evidence of distinct improvement in the imme
diate future."
What was going on at the time of this excep
tional depression? Why all these firms were
engaged in increasing their capital, putting down
now slipways, preparing for the time which
they knew from past experience, and their
knowledge of instruments they were able to
work, would come sooner or later. Just before
the scare, Armstrong, Whitworth and Co. had
equipped a new gun mounting shop, with three
erecting pits and ample storage room for ord
nance; the Coventry Ordnance Works, Limited,
had completed In 1908 their great, gun-mounting
establishment at Scotstoun. Messrs. Beard
more and Co., Limited, with the aid of Vickers,
Limited, had been making extensions at Park
head Works. All this time these meii and their
representatives were working behind the scene.
The house will remember the Mulliner incident.
Mr. Mulliner was a director 6f the Coventry Ord
nance Works. What is the 'Coventry Ordnance
Works? It is another name for John Brown and
Co. The Cantmel',Laird Company and the John
Brown Company .own half the shares. Now we
had it. An tlie-tfthorily'of Mr. Mulling? himself
that for three years before 1909 he Was cori
slantly writing to the government and appealing
to them In other ways to spend mbre money up
on armaments, and giving them information,
wliidh was afterwards found to be totally Uil-
true, in relation to what Germany was doing. I
do not suppose that is a very usual practice for
cabinet, ministers to interview commercial- trav
elers and touts, nut t'liey ma'de a departure pn ;
this occasion,, and' .after three years"' of impbr-
(unity,, Uiey( enlisted the services of this geritle-
" maii, "who 'was received by the prime minister
and other members of the cabinet; 'and then the
prinie" minister 'and the first'lord of "the admiral-
tv camft down to -this house with that bogus
story about the 'acceleration' of the German-pro--gramme,
aiid it has since come td light that their.
,only authority was the man whose works were'
standing idle at that time, and who was anxious
to get government .work. The statement which
the lion, member for Fareham(Mr. Arthur LeeV
made himself responsible for at 'that time will
not be very soon forgotten. A cry went up-: "We
want eiirht, and we won't wait"; and they ' did-
not wait, and then the contingent ships were
laid down, and they got the work. These are the
vprv. men who had been using this means to in
duce the public to spend money.
I find from the Navy League Annual, that be
fore this scare the amount of private contracts
for new construction was 7,000,000. The year
1910-11 was' the first year of the new pro
gramme, and in that year private contracts went
up by 4,500,000, but there Was no more work
given to the government dockyards, it all went
to private contractors of the armament ring who
forced the government into this expenditure. I
remember my lion, friend the member for Wool
wich (Mr. Crooks) pleading with the then first
lord of the admiralty for some Work for Wool
wich. Hon. members sniile at that, but there
you have the painful illustration of how this
system incidentally makes a man do a thing
whioh his party utterly abhored. But the first
lord would give no part of the additional work
to Woolwich. It all went to increase the profits
andlhe dividends of these private firms. What
dfV find on examination of the balance sheets
of the firms which constitute the armament ring
I find in the year before the scare Messrs Vick
ers' profits amounted to 424,000. Two years
after that they were nearly double that amount.
Every year since the success of their intrigue
their profits have gone up--474,000, 544 000
745,000, S72,000. The precise figures of their
profits for the last twelve months are not yet
obtainable, but they show another addition so
that their profits are increased bv &00 000 a
year as a result of the success of the scare thev
engineered four years ago. Now what are the
other component parts of this ring? Let us take
",' ,,Tb;, u ia uie ouier ". m this ring
of which the first Ibrd of the admiralty spoke
very oflectionately some time aim. tto ci,i n
the relations of the admiralty with Viekers and
another large firm- in tho trade 'are far more
cordiarthan the ordinary relations of business
That might be one reason why the representative
of these firms was received in audience, at a cab-. -.
inet council. In the year of the scare Arm-, m.
strong's profits amounted to 429,000. They .,
went on mounting up until last year, 1912, they
had risen to 777,000 with an increase in divi- ..
dend. Another firm, Messrs. Beardmore, shows- -on
examination of their profits exactly the same- ..
thing. In 19..QJ) their profits were 72,000;. in.
1911 they were three times that sum 201,000.
I have spoken of the armament ring. What
is that ring? It is a combination of four, or1.,
five strictly speaking of the principal firms :
engaged in this trade. Patriotism is not one of
the distinguishing features of the trade meth
ods of this great combine. For instance, I' find
Messrs. Vickers have works at Barrow, Sheffield;
Birmingham, but they do not confine themselves
to this country. They have a yard at Placentia
de las Armas; in Spain; they have another place '
in Spezia, in Italy. They are evidently taking
time by the forelock. They anticipate the prom- '
ise of a Mediterranean squadron. It is no won- "
der that I find the shares of Vickers, Armstrong
and Co., Cammell, Laird and Co., went -Up on
the stock exchange after the report of the : first '
lord's speech. They have also an interest ih:the
Whitehead torpedo factory in FiUine, in Austria- -
Hungary, and it is against Austria we a're aske'd ;-
to lay down this fleet in the Mediterranean. Arid-, '
again, as the newspapers have reminded us sis '-'
much in the last week or two, they have .a place
on the Volga, in Russia'; indeed, they have' two.' -''
They have also a shipyard in South America, and ,;
in anticipation of the development of the Call a- - "
dian -navy, they have laid doWn works in iMori
treal. Another component part of the trust was' ? -there
before them, and John Brown and Co. haver,v
whatsis5 going to be the-largest shipyard in the!'-:-world
iii New Brunswick. .-... '.,'..-
-I said .natriotism is no.t a distinguishing char'C'
acteristie of the methods of t,liese firms, As'a .V"
jnatter,of ,fa.ct, these firms are not English. Their'''?
management is, '.International, aiut fliefr. -share-' '!
holders are international For instance, I find..,
on examination of the, share; lists of "Messrs". :':
Vickprs -that thev have ahpWerixmVl'in; .
S?'. JS?n'-fcty.. BrA?iK$$ada,;Xu
China, Spain, and 'ChiTi; andafteraU,.! fc$3S
we are entitled to say that'tljese njeh'are (rue! ,1
internationals. Now I ask 'again what" is this
armanient ring? t comftrtees 'Vickers-Arhr- '
strong, John Brown, 'Cammel-Laird the 'Coy- ''''
entry-Ordnarice-Works a' subsidiary" firm0,7
Vickers- for instance, not only own Works cli- "l) -
' ' lxrC ,l3 b.uLtu?y are lar controllers of, 'the'"!
Wolseley Tool and Motor Company and the Blec- '!:.
trie arid Ordnance Accessories Company'. Messrs:'-
SSJSrl Ui nly 0W11 the sines witt'
which their name Is associated, but they owiiu,i
half th'e shares of Whitehead 'aii'd Co.'s torpedo:1
manufac urej and Whitehead und Cp". Sedo i:
manufactures also have a large factorv in Am? J
tr a building tbrpedoes to dehtto Uie7hlpp ttS
Vickers are building now. So "the shareholders'
of the armament ring can look forward WiS'1
equanimity to whatever happens. It Tno 'mat- "
ter to them whether it is a Austrian ship ? a'-
Cerman ship, or a British ship that sinks1 ?&&
can thrbw up their hats and shou , "More 'A ft? ''!
ra1flreriPr01fttS' higher vidends." ; jS Browh "
and Co. have a great'works at Sheffield with
which their name is associated, they have a" xrreaV ' .:
shipping yard on the Clyde bank, Ld Ihey liave " '
over seven-eighths of the shares of Thomas S ' '
& Sons Limited, and half the shares in the Cov -?;
entry Ordnance Works Bnf tU,, py? 7,
after the Mulliner Sent mklZycLn
heir managing director. After thl eSosura of " ';
he means by which he succeeded in Seerine ' kSr
the naval scare of 1909 the covemmoii 1 "eerl"g j
appointed in his plia?SttS
with a salary of 7,000 a year and seven vea&
engagement. John Brown nwiL y .
with Beardmore; thwtotertoLZrt T?--
Projeetile Company, and they have fonefliLft''
m common with Richardsons. WestLrth anr -
Co Hadfield Foundry, Limited, and with Cam' -
me i-Laird and Co., so that when you touch orife'
of the firms of this ring you tonob ti , Sn
You do not know, to use T the words lLthS'
song, -Which is whloh?eand8wwS is n otSS-'-'
I come now to the shareholders; IfiS
trustee for the debenture holders 'in Vickers V
Lord Sandhurst, who.-at the present titi i? ?i
Pies the position, of lra'ciSSi'a',
that the member for the Hnliirrr ,ii, i .
ShemCrt (the Rt. Ho";esI?u11ratVonS,)0.'!;vtf
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