Excerpt from Industrial Peace, Vol. 2

WE have no intention of entering the lists in those greatly to be regretted discussions which exhibit the Government and the Higher Command of the Army as two opposing factions intriguing against each other and continually manoeuvring for position to the detriment of the State. There is no legitimate ground for partisanship at a time when national unity is all important and no Sense of fairplay in attributing ulterior motives to men in responsible positions at a time when circum stances forbid them to state their case without reservation. Those people who imagine that they are helping the Army by attacking the' Government, equally with those who think that the Government cannot be supported without criticising the Higher Command, are injuring, however unwittingly, the very causes they profess to have at heart. It is impossible for any outsider to be sufficiently well-informed to arrive at a complete and judicial decision in the matter and anything less than the whole truth is worse than useless. The question of degree hardly arises and an estimate that is only inaccurate in part may well be fraught with graver peril than an appreciation which is comprehensively ill-founded. There is only one safe course to pursue and that is to suspend judgment, to be generous and to trust the men in power to oppose the German menace with the whole resources of the State with increasing vigour and resolution.

The truth will emerge in the long run. Meanwhile let us leave to the defeatists the monopoly of ignorant and ungenerous carping. If we must criticise, let us concentrate on insisting that neither time, money, nor energy is wasted on any object which does not contribute directly towards ultimate victory. The advantage which Germany possesses by virtue of centralised command operating on interior lines is enhanced by every discussion that distracts our attention andean only be neutralised by a fixed determination on our part to postpone all avoidable controversy until the enemy is defeated. To act otherwise is to play into the hands of Germany, who seeks skilfully and consistently, by evasive or ambiguous duplicity and by every knavish trick that Teuton industry can contrive, to discover the weak spots in our national armour in order that she may achieve by fraud the victory which the gallantry of the Navy and the Army prevents her from winning by force.

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