HOW TO PAY 
 
 FOR 
 
 THE WAR 
 
 ME NEED FOR A BOARD OF INDUS] 
 
 By WiLFRfQ STOKER. 
 
 P 
 
 
 firitislj 
 
HOW TO PAY 
 FOR THE WAR. 
 
 A Practical Scheme for Improving 
 Our Foreign Trade. 
 
 By 
 
 WILFRID STOKES 
 
 (Chairman of the Executive Committee 
 of The British Engineers' Association). 
 
 LONDON, 1915. 
 
 32, VICTORIA STREET, S.VV 
 
NOTICE. 
 
 The following scheme for the formation of a new Government 
 Department, viz., a Board of Industry, was first brought before a 
 Meeting of the British Engineers' Association at Manchester, on 
 December 15th, 1914. 
 
 The scheme has already met with a considerable measure of 
 support from industrial and trade Associations, Chambers of Com- 
 merce and other interested bodies, who have been asked to appoint 
 representatives to form a Joint Committee to consider and if 
 necessary to amend the scheme before it is submitted to the 
 Government. 
 
 Members of both Houses of Parliament have also expressed 
 approval and offered their co-operation. 
 
 The present publication is made in order to enlist the sympathy 
 and support of all who are interested in extending our foreign 
 trade. 
 
 Last year our exports amounted to nearly 600,000,000, 
 and, if the results of the present proposal were to add only 10% to 
 this figure the country would be benefited to the extent of 
 .60,000,000, with the further advantages to shipping, transport 
 and banking which do not appear in export returns. 
 
 The cost of the proposed new Board of Industry would thug 
 .appear to be fully justified. 
 
 STAFFORD RANSOME, 
 
 Secretary, 
 British Engineers' Association. 
 
 32, Victoria Street, 8.W. 
 
 325128 
 
HOW TO PAY FOR THE WAR. 
 
 PROPOSED BOARD OF INDUSTRY. 
 
 At the present moment attention naturally turns to 
 our foreign trade conditions and how they are and may 
 be affected by the war. 
 
 There is a general feeling that all is not as it should 
 be and that too much has been left to chance while, as a 
 nation, we are not maintaining our position in the 
 markets of the world. 
 
 An endeavour will be made to show that the solution 
 of this problem lies in the formation of a Government 
 Board of Industry. 
 
 Britain's greatness is result of Trade. 
 
 It is quite clear that much of Britain's greatness lies 
 in her trade and manufactures, chiefly in connection 
 with export. 
 
 As the prosperity of the community is made up of 
 that of the individual, it is only proper that the com- 
 munity should act so as to help the individual, not 
 necessarily as an individual, but as a class of indivi- 
 duals. 
 
 The resulting prosperity would be felt generally, 
 and would act and react on the whole community. 
 
 State should foster Trade. 
 
 Hence the State should, as one of its most important 
 functions, foster trade and manufactures. 
 
This function is quite distinct and apart from party 
 politics, and people of all shades of political opinion 
 should co-operate, while both employers and workmen 
 are equally interested in helping. 
 
 All Government departments should be so consti- 
 tuted and managed that they fulfil the purpose for 
 which they are formed (indirectly, it is true) by the 
 community. When in the judgment of a majority any 
 changes are required, these changes should be made 
 without hesitation. 
 
 Co-operation necessary for reform. 
 
 If any useful reforms are to be accomplished within 
 a reasonable time a strong combination is necessary 
 amongst those who will most directly benefit by them. 
 
 As in the case of machinery to be sold in a competi- 
 tive market, success is impossible without co-operation 
 between classes of tradesmen, salesmen and capitalists, 
 so, when it comes to international trading, individual 
 effort must be assisted by co-operation with the com- 
 bined influence and weight of the community if it is to 
 be thoroughly effective against the manufacturers of 
 other nations, who are properly supported in this 
 manner. 
 
 With regard to the Army and Navy and in State and 
 Municipal affairs, this principle is fully recognised. 
 
 Trade now left to individual effort. 
 
 When it com<es to trade, however, and more parti- 
 cularly to foreign trade, upon which so much depends, 
 matters are left almost entirely to individual effort. 
 
 This system is obviously defective, but if proof be 
 needed it is only necessary to turn to the methods 
 adopted by Germany in recent years and to note the 
 marked success resulting from them. Although it is not 
 suggested that all such methods are advisable or com- 
 
mendable, yet they are all founded upon the sound 
 common-sense basis that the community should, as a 
 whole, foster and help foreign trade, and thereby, as 
 a whole, reap the benefit. 
 
 Adequate funds not provided by the State. 
 
 It may be urged that we have a Board of Trade and 
 a Foreign Office whose functions are to look after and 
 extend our foreign trade. 
 
 When, however, we come to examine the machinery 
 available, there at once appears a great lack of any- 
 thing like completeness or businesslike methods. In 
 the first place, there are practically no funds set aside 
 by the State for the purpose of generally advancing 
 foreign trade. 
 
 Limited Foreign Office support. 
 
 Apart from the Consular Service, the Foreign Office 
 staff interested in trade in foreign countries, as a rule, 
 consists of Commercial Attaches, having little or no 
 special knowledge or commercial training, whose object 
 it is to get as quickly as possible into the senior and 
 better-paid diplomatic posts. 
 
 As to the numbers of these officials, we may take 
 China as an example. That country, with vast open- 
 ings for trade with Great Britain, has one Commercial 
 Attache to cope with British trade questions arising 
 from a population of over 400,000,000, and a yearly 
 import trade of some 80,000,000. 
 
 The following is an example of how the Foreign Office 
 is hampered by want of funds : Quite recently the only 
 two daily papers printed in English in Peking have been 
 bought up by Germany, obviously for the purpose of 
 misleading the Chinese by news purporting to come 
 from British sources, and therefore presumably true. 
 Much as the Foreign Office may regret this attack by 
 
8 
 
 Germany, nothing can be done, as no funds are avail- 
 able. Could anything be more deplorable? 
 
 Limited support of Board of Trade. 
 
 Turning to the Board of Trade A there is in London a 
 well-managed Commercial Intelligence Department, 
 which is doing its best under adverse circumstances. It 
 publishes a Journal and issues reports received via the 
 Foreign Office and the Board of Trade from British 
 Consuls, many of whom are unpaid, and allowed to 
 trade on their own account, some of whom are of alien 
 nationality, and all of whom have many other duties 
 which they regard as more pressing. There are, in 
 addition, four not too well paid Trade Commissioners 
 with their trade correspondents, who, although keen 
 and capable, are unable to do much more than pick up 
 information from friends and others whose interests in 
 no way encourage them to give prompt and useful 
 information. Thus these reports are of little practical 
 value. 
 
 |r> A small sum (about <500) is spent annually by the 
 Board of Trade on special trade research work in 
 various countries. 
 
 Board of Trade has too many functions. 
 
 As to the Board of Trade itself, its functions are 
 much too general. Its constitution was never intended 
 to apply to the furtherance of foreign trade, it is 
 not suited for that purpose, and, as at present consti- 
 tuted, never can be. It may almost be said that its 
 principal functions involve the hindrance of trade by 
 imposing rules and restrictions, which often, owing to 
 the lack of special knowledge, are so framed as to cause 
 unnecessary difficulties. 
 
 Without reflecting upon the personnel of the Board 
 of Trade, it is, perhaps, not out of place to point out 
 
9 
 
 that there is no suitable training provided for it. For 
 this the general system of entrance examinations to the 
 Civil Service must be blamed. 
 
 Defective Staff training. 
 
 After passing an entrance examination on subjects 
 not necessarily connected in any way with the work ex- 
 pected of the candidate, he is left to pick up in the best 
 way he can the details of the work of the office of which, 
 by a process of survival, he may ultimately become the 
 head. He has no incentive to get through the day's work 
 except in the easiest way. It is, therefore, not fair to 
 blame him if this system tends to make him cramped 
 in outlook, bound round with red tape methods, lacking 
 in initiative, and reluctant to receive outside assistance. 
 It would indeed be remarkable if such a result did not 
 follow so imperfect a training. 
 
 President has too many functions. 
 
 The Minister at the head of the Board of Trade, as 
 its President for the time being, is a purely political 
 functionary placed in that position for many reasons 
 other than his possessing a special practical training 
 in, or knowledge of, the trade requirements of the 
 country. In any case, however, it would be very diffi- 
 cult to combine in one man a specialist in the very dif- 
 ferent kinds of work dealt with by the Board of Trade, 
 including as it does patents, bankruptcy, railways, ship- 
 ping, electric light and power, and a host of other 
 subjects, as well as foreign trade. 
 
 Present system not up-to-date. 
 
 So far these criticisms of our present system have 
 been destructive. They are made solely to show that 
 there are openings for improvements, iand that our 
 arrangements are not adequate to cope with twentieth 
 
10 
 
 century conditions, which, it should be remembered, 
 are fundamentally different from the conditions prevail- 
 ing when Britain was practically alone in being able 
 to supply by her manufactures the requirements of un- 
 developed and less civilised countries. 
 
 British manufacturers are twitted with their unpro- 
 gressive and stay-at-home methods in connection with 
 foreign trade. It does not, however, improve matters 
 or make trading easier that the community as a whole, 
 through its State officials, should have this same fault 
 in a marked degree, and should refrain from giving that 
 support and assistance which alone can come from the 
 authority and backing of the nation. 
 
 Such backing and support is given by other foreign 
 nations, notably by Germany, and recent revelations 
 consequent on the war have prepared the way for the 
 favourable consideration of improved methods in con- 
 nection with our own trading. 
 
 Lack of Activity. 
 
 It may also be safely stated that many of the trade 
 complications now prevalent would not have arisen 
 had there been a proper system of State supervision of 
 foreign enterprise in this country, nor would the alien 
 enemy trading question have been left so long uncon- 
 trolled. 
 
 It requires no arguments to prove that State influence 
 and help in connection with foreign trade should be 
 established on sound common- sense business principles ; 
 in fact, on lines not unlike those of a great business 
 concern having dealings with foreign countries. 
 
 In order to aeal with the present problem on sound 
 business lines, it is advisable to obtain the help of the 
 best men available. This could best be done by the 
 creation of a Board of Industry constituted somewhat 
 as follows: 
 
11 
 
 CONSTITUTION OF THE PROPOSED BOARD OF 
 
 INDUSTRY. 
 
 Permanent President. Man of great business ability, 
 permanently in office, and with the rank of a 
 Cabinet Minister, or with the right to bring rris 
 Council's views before the Cabinet in person. 
 
 Elected Council. Fifteen leading men of business 
 ability, representing the industries of agriculture, 
 banking, building materials, chemicals, cutlery, 
 electricity, engineering, foodstuffs, hardware, iron 
 and steel, leather, paper, railways, shipping, and 
 textiles. Also one representative each of the Indian 
 Empire, and the self-governing Dominions of 
 Canada, Newfoundland, Australia, Union of South 
 Africa and New Zealand, preferably the High 
 Commissioners or their nominees, and three repre- 
 sentatives of the Crown Colonies. 
 
 Parliamentary Secretary. Appointed by party in office. 
 Permanent Staff with attractive salaries. 
 ^Secretaries. With considerable business experience. 
 *Staff. With previous business experience. 
 ^Clerks. With business training. 
 
 "'Trade Commissioners. With Staff and Trade corre- 
 spondents, as may be required in India, each 
 Self-governing Dominion, each Crown Colony, 
 and each Foreign Country and with wide experi- 
 ence of trade conditions and requirements of the 
 territories in which they operate. 
 
 'Promotion to be made on merit?, not by seniority, and an incentive 
 given to promote actively Foreign Trade. 
 
Country can well afford outlay. 
 
 The increased prosperity of the country would more 
 than repay the increased outlay. Last year the amount 
 of our foreign trade was over 1,400,000,000, yet the 
 cost of running the whole of the Board of Trade, includ- 
 ing all the home departments, was only about 213,000, 
 or, say, 3Jd. per 100 of the trade done, of which the 
 ^d. more than covers the expenditure on Foreign Trade 
 departments. What private business trading with 
 foreign countries could hope to prosper with such a 
 trifling expenditure for general supervision and exploit- 
 ation from headquarters. 
 
 No attempt is made to enter into minor details of the 
 necessary extensions and changes in our present system, 
 but having arrived at an agreement on first principles, 
 the rest may safely be left for subsequent development. 
 
 Reasons for State help. 
 
 It should be clear that 
 
 (a) The prosperity of Britain depends upon her 
 exports of manufactured goods and material. 
 
 (b) The more fully the country is kept employed 
 the better it is for the community. 
 
 (c) It is therefore fit and proper for the community 
 to help as a whole in the furtherance of foreign 
 trade and exports in the best possible manner. 
 
 (d) From which it follows that there should be a 
 generously financed State Department whose 
 sole duty it is to deal with this all-important 
 matter. 
 
 As we have an Army and Navy, with their experi- 
 enced technical advisers, to defend our country, so we 
 should have bodies of trained men, under equally 
 qualified leaders, all over the world, to defend our trade. 
 
13 
 
 This trained force to defend our trade should be 
 brought up with an intimate knowledge of our business 
 requirements and methods, and should not solely be 
 occupied behind desks in Government offices . The 
 leaders of this force should be sufficiently well paid to 
 attract men of marked capacity and ambition away 
 from private business careers. 
 
 A remodelled entrance examination for the class of 
 permanent clerks might be adopted, but for those enter- 
 ing more prominent positions the selection should not 
 be made till a proof of ability was available from other 
 business positions successfully filled. 
 
 Paid Elected Council of business men. 
 
 The paid Council, composed of fifteen of the best 
 business men of the country (elected for, say, three 
 years) and of representatives of the High Commis- 
 sioners of our Self governing Dependencies, the India 
 Office, and the Agents-General for the Colonies, should 
 meet at intervals and decide upon the general policy. 
 Some of its members should from time to time be told 
 off to pay visits to foreign countries and to our Colonies 
 to collect information at first hand. The head of this 
 Council should be a member of the Cabinet ; or, if this 
 is found impracticable, he should have easy access to 
 the Cabinet on all matters relating to the industries of 
 the country. He should be a permanent official chosen 
 for his ability, and should receive a good salary, with a 
 suitable retiring allowance at a reasonable age. 
 
 Parliamentary Secretary. 
 
 The Council should be accessible to manufacturers 
 and traders, and should welcome suggestions from 
 them. The Parliamentary mouthpiece of the Council 
 
14 
 
 might well be a Secretary appointed by the Government 
 in office, but with very limited powers with regard to 
 the work of the Council. 
 
 Numerous Trade Commissioners. 
 
 Numerous qualified Trade Commissioners should be 
 appointed in our dependencies and Colonies and in 
 foreign countries, each with an adequate staff and 
 ample office accommodation in a good position, and 
 with facilities for displaying samples and giving the 
 travelling representatives of British traders temporary 
 accommodation when meeting customers or transacting 
 business. 
 
 It should be the duty of the Trade Commissioner to 
 collect and report to headquarters at short intervals 
 useful information concerning openings for trade and 
 the activities of our foreign competitors. Samples of 
 goods required and directories and classified lists should 
 be available, and efforts should be made to help to 
 bring together buyer and seller in the interests of the 
 Empire. 
 
 Extended Foreign Office support. 
 
 As to the Foreign Office, all our Ambassadors and 
 Ministers should be instructed to use their best 
 endeavours to advance trade relations with the 
 countries in which they are placed, notably in connec- 
 tion with international loans. They should treat trade 
 as a matter of the first importance whenever an oppor- 
 tunity arises, and should be provided with ample funds 
 for the purpose of pushing British trade interests. At 
 the present moment these interests are to a great extent 
 neglected. 
 
15 
 
 The Commercial Attache service should offer a 
 career separate and distinct from that of diplomacy ; it 
 should be well paid and otherwise made attractive. 
 
 Under existing conditions an Attache has to serve for 
 two years without salary, and for four or five subse- 
 quent years at a salary of 150 per annum. 
 
 Reforms cannot be expected from within. 
 
 Now, how can all these most desirable changes be 
 brought about? 
 
 It is- quite clear that single-handed no one can hope 
 for success, and there are many drawbacks to making 
 these reforms a party question. 
 
 It is equally clear that such a drastic change cannot 
 be expected to come from within. 
 
 In 1905 the King's Speech at the opening of Parlia- 
 ment contained the promise of a Ministry of Commerce, 
 but nothing has been done as yet in this direction. 
 
 B.E.A. to take the initiative. 
 
 It would therefore appear that a neutral body, such 
 as the British Engineers' Association, would be well 
 fitted to move in the first instance and obtain the 
 co-operation of other purely British trade societies in 
 order to awaken public opinion to the urgent need of 
 these reforms, so that the Government may move 
 promptly in the matter, without making it a party 
 question. 
 
 If the whole of the British engineering industry were 
 to combine for this object, it could not fail to achieve its 
 purpose. The present moment is particularly favour- 
 able to such a movement, and, although there are diffi- 
 culties in the way of such radical changes as are pro- 
 posed, it cannot be denied that they are demanded by 
 practical common sense. 
 
16 
 
 Increased Trade to Pay for the War. 
 
 The cost of this war will be very great, so great 
 indeed that its payment must be spread over a very long 
 term of years. If our foreign trade is bad in the future, 
 this burden will be hard to bear. It is thus our obvious 
 duty, as a community, to extend and improve our 
 foreign trade to the utmost by all legitimate means. 
 
 The monetary debt caused by the war must be borne 
 both by us and our descendants. It is to be regretted 
 that the debt must be passed on, but this scheme for 
 extending Foreign Trade should be welcomed on the 
 ground that it opens a way to lighten the burden both 
 now and in the future. Even if the way is beset by 
 great difficulties, it is our duty not to shrink from them, 
 but to give whole-hearted and effective support. 
 
 The Object of this Pamphlet. 
 
 To sum matters up, the purpose of this pamphlet is 
 to show that: 
 
 (1) The continued greatness of Britain depends upon 
 her trade, and her trade depends upon her industries. 
 
 (2) The State should take all practicable steps to 
 help the industries and thereby increase the trade of 
 the country. 
 
 (3) The present State help extended to our foreign 
 trade is quite inadequate. 
 
 (4) If it were made adequate the resulting increase in 
 prosperity would materially help in paying for the war, 
 and also in solving the labour problems which will 
 inevitably follow the declaration of peace. 
 
 Those who believe that reforms should be made in 
 the direction indicated, and who, from one cause or 
 another, cannot take an active part in the war, have 
 now an opportunity of helping to promote the prosperity 
 of our country. 
 
THE NEED FOR A BOARD OF 
 INDUSTRY. 
 
 EXTRACTS FROM PRESS OPINIONS 
 ON THE SCHEME. 
 
 The Engineer : "In these days, when manufacturers 
 are being urged to capture G'erman trade, it is natural 
 for the critic to ask, ' How are they to do so unless 
 they are properly supported by the Government ? ' In 
 other words, it is easy to indulge in destructive criti- 
 cism, but quite a different matter to point out a remedy 
 for the evil. It is precisely because, after criticising 
 the methods of the powers that be, Mr. Stokes suggests 
 a definite line of action for overcoming these diffi- 
 culties, that his speech is of great value. 
 
 " It is probable that few of our readers will hold 
 the view that the Board of Trade, as at present 
 constituted, and the diplomatic and consular services 
 as carried on by the Foreign Office, are adequately 
 equipped for encouraging and protecting our foreign 
 trade. The Board of Trade was originally intended to 
 deal primarily with transport; that is to say, every- 
 thing which has to do with our shipping, railways, and 
 other carrying agencies. It was, in fact, what in some 
 countries is known as a Board of Communications ; a 
 Board which controls the great arteries of commerce ; 
 a Board of Trading rather tlian a Board of Trade. We 
 have nothing to say with regard to the manner in which 
 it carries out these functions, nor have we here to deal 
 with the manner in which it handles bankruptcy, 
 patents, or labour, and conducts the hundred and one 
 other functions it now has to fulfil. But we cordially 
 agree with Mr. Stokes that it is intolerable that at the 
 present day a department, which is expected to carry 
 out properly these multifarious duties, should have 
 
18 
 
 tacked on to it, as a sort of accessory, the controlling of 
 the foreign trade on which the prosperity of Great 
 Britain relies. ... We shall not labour here the 
 point so often made as to the inefficiency of our consular 
 service. The main function of a consul is not to 
 increase British business. ' Just as we have an Army 
 and Navy,' says Mr. Stokes, ' to defend our country, 
 so we should have bodies of trained men all over the 
 world to defend our trade.' In other words, he would 
 relieve our Consuls of that accessory to their other 
 multifarious duties, the forwarding of British indus- 
 trial interests. . . . It is the efficiency of the 
 central body that is to say, the Board of Industry 
 that would determine the effectiveness of the plan put 
 forward by Mr. Stokes. In dealing with this portion of 
 his difficult problem, however, Mr. Stokes is as distinct 
 and direct in his recommendations as in the rest of his 
 theme. The function of the president is not merely to 
 consult the members of his council, but to act on their 
 advice. . . . Above all, everyone holding any 
 important position in the Board of Industry at home 
 would be a man fitted by his training for the purpose, 
 and the same qualities would be expected in all the 
 trade commissioners, commercial attaches, and their 
 subordinates in their respective localities. 
 
 " We do not disguise from ourselves the fact that the 
 scheme now propounded is of an extremely ambitious 
 nature, but we venture to say that it is an ambition 
 which is well justified. We cannot doubt that; if the 
 scheme were put into effect it would provide a solution 
 of the greatest difficulty which stands in the way of our 
 foreign business. . . . Whatever the ultimate 
 success of the suggested reforms may be, they are of 
 vital interest, not merely to engineers, but to every- 
 body, and they are deserving of the utmost attention at 
 the present time. It is not a question of party politics. 
 
19 
 
 It is not a question that divides master and man, for it 
 is as important to the one as to the other. The war has 
 gone far to teach the people of England how little their 
 trade interests have been supported in the past by the 
 Government, and we are perfectly sure that our 
 industries between them are capable of bringing about 
 any reasonable reforms in this respect if they choose to 
 use their united power to effect this purpose." 
 
 Daily Telegraph: " There is reason to suppose that 
 if the whole of the British engineering industry were to 
 combine with the object of awakening public opinion to 
 the urgent need of reform of our trade development 
 mechanism, it would be possible for a new body to be 
 evolved which could be of incalculable use to British 
 traders in the coming industrial struggle. The British 
 Engineers' Association has been indicated by Mr. Wil- 
 frid Stokes in a pamphlet, ' How to Pay for the War/ 
 as the neutral body most fitted to move in the first 
 instance. Mr. Stokes suggests the constitution of a 
 Board of Industry, which would leave to the Board of 
 Trade those departments of commerce for the assistance 
 
 of which it was originally established The 
 
 Foreign Office is, of course, supposed to aid in the 
 development of our trade abroad through the Consular 
 Service, but in practice the support of the Foreign Office 
 as given by its commercial attaches is distinctly feeble, 
 as up to now the latter have had little or no special 
 knowledge or commercial training. ... It is grati- 
 fying to learn from the fifth report of the Eoyal Com- 
 mission on the Civil Service, issued a few days ago, that 
 certain of these proposals are actually recommended to 
 be carried into effect, thereby lending hope to the belief 
 that if sufficient pressure be applied, something on the 
 lines of the proposed Board of Industry may materialise 
 before the great opportunity has passed away. Thus the 
 report recommends that commercial attache's should be 
 
20 
 
 advisory officers, and should not be 'engaged on the 
 ordinary duties of a diplomatic mission. Their districts 
 should not be larger than they can travel over effec- 
 tively, and they should spend the greater part of their 
 time in travelling through them, and only three months 
 of each year at most in Great Britain. There should be 
 commercial attaches for the American Continent. 
 . . . We understand that the support of engineers, 
 the engineering institutions, and of other bodies and 
 individuals, is being enlisted by the association, and it 
 is to be hoped that all who are desirous of seeing this 
 great reform carried out will not fail to write to the 
 British Engineers' Association, at 32, Victoria Street, 
 S.W., expressing their approval of the effort that is 
 being made to launch a practical scheme for improving 
 our foreign trade." 
 
 Manchester Guardian: " What we have to do is to 
 see, not simply that we execute such orders as the war 
 may drive into our lap,, but that British goods shall not 
 in the future, for lack of intelligent foresight and enter- 
 prise, be unable to hold their own against foreign, par- 
 ticularly German and Austrian, competition. . . . 
 At present the functions of the Government in these 
 matters are divided between the Foreign Office, the 
 Board of Trade, and the Colonial Office. It is hardly 
 possible that the duties of all three can be properly 
 related to one another. Government departments carry 
 on their own affairs with less and less regard for the 
 opinions and doings of other departments, and so far 
 as the supervision of British trade interests is concerned 
 the union of functions in one department has much to 
 be said for it." 
 
 Manchester Guardian : -" British engineers are 
 slowly but sure]y becoming alive to the value of co- 
 
21 
 
 operation, but many seem still to doubt its practica- 
 bility on a really effective scale. . . . Diffidence is 
 the besetting danger to all affluent and magnanimous 
 peoples, and in no way is this more swiftly exhibited 
 and punished than in our diffident attitude towards co- 
 operation in foreign markets. We would co-operate 
 when co-operation has been successful. We would pay 
 our subscriptions to the co-operative movement when 
 we see that everybody else is paying and profiting. In 
 fact, we would co-operate when all logic is turned 
 upside down and result by some miracle is made to pre- 
 cede cause. Only we would not call it a miracle, but our 
 national luck. . . . The relation of the Board of 
 Trade and of the Consular Service to our effort in 
 foreign markets does not especially concern engineers, 
 but at least it concerns them as much as it concerns any 
 section of traders. We need not labour the short- 
 comings of our Consular Service or the entirely passive 
 virtues of the Board of Trade. Everybody knows the 
 comparative uselessness of both. The first has been 
 spoiled by the employment of what may be called 
 ' casual labour/ consuls who are consuls in their spare 
 time ; and the latter by choking itself with work that 
 the ordinary conditions of competition would do almost 
 equally well. If it is necessary to have a Government 
 Department to look after the handles of railway car- 
 riage doors, by all means let us have it, but do not let 
 us call it a Board of Trade, and do not let it include 
 the Archbishop of Canterbury or the Speaker of the 
 Irish House of Commons. The moment the economic 
 factors which are directly contingent on the war, of 
 which the British Navy is very easily the biggest, are 
 nullified by peace, we shall have to face German compe- 
 tition again. It may take forms different from hereto- 
 fore ; it will certainly in some directions be eventually 
 fiercer than ever, and in those directions in which the 
 result of the war will deaden German efforts there will 
 
22 
 
 be American efforts. We cannot count on a very long 
 recuperative interval before we are face to face with 
 the most determined competition from the two nations 
 whose consular and trade bureau services are the best 
 in the world. What equipment have we got to oppose 
 to theirs?" 
 
 The Globe: "We published yesterday a speech 
 recently delivered by Mr. Wilfrid Stokes, chairman of 
 the Executive Committee of the British Engineers' Asso- 
 ciation, on a subject which is to-day of dominant in- 
 terest for the Empire the question of the organisation 
 of our trade and industry. Although the war has been 
 going on for only five months, it has already revealed 
 in a hundred unsuspected ways the defects of that vast 
 and complex machinery on which the whole of our 
 prosperity depends, and the extent to which we had, 
 through sheer lethargy, allowed ourselves to be 
 shouldered out of branches of production in which we 
 ought to hold our own. The new conditions have also 
 not only inspired efforts to recapture markets which we 
 had lost, but have convinced the least reflecting that to 
 achieve that purpose much more is necessaxy than to 
 walk through an open door. We have to equip ourselves 
 for the conquest with the same thoroughness and dis- 
 cipline that the Germans have manifested in occupying 
 the ground that they have now had to surrender. 
 
 "The plain fact is that, although we for more than a. 
 hundred years enjoyed the name of ' a nation of shop- 
 keepers,' we have never acted up to it. All the power- 
 ful influence of the State has been withheld from the 
 advancement of what were, after all, the greatest of 
 national interests. The idea that prevailed for many 
 years with our statesmen was that, while trade might 
 properly be controlled, it was not part of the duty of 
 the Governments to assist it. Latterly, there has beeo 
 
23 
 
 some modification of this lofty attitude of detachment ; 
 but the modification has been half-hearted, as if those 
 \\ao consented were not really convinced and only 
 yielded to an odious necessity which they could not 
 avert. Our Consular service is still but badly organised 
 for what should be its primary function. Many of our 
 Consuls are unpaid, and many of them are foreigners ; 
 and though the Commercial Intelligence Department of 
 the Board of Trade supplies much useful information, 
 it is very far from being in as close touch with merchants 
 and manufacturers as it should be. 
 
 "This war ought to teach us what we have been so slow 
 to learn that trade, like every other national activity, 
 needs to be scientifically organised, and that the State 
 can perform no higher function than in co-operating in 
 that work of organisation. We want a department 
 whose sole and single duty shall be to charge itself with 
 those manifold responsibilities to the trade of the 
 country that only an agency with the authority and the 
 resources of the State behind it can fulfil. There is no 
 question of putting private enterprise into leading 
 strings or of doing for traders what they can do much 
 better for themselves. It is a question of affording the 
 facilities and the co-operation which at present are so 
 largely lacking. The whole cost of the services rendered 
 officially to our foreign trade at present is well under 
 half a million, and yet that trade itself is of the annual 
 value of 1,400 millions. No little blame for the existing 
 state of things rests with our manufacturers and mer- 
 chants themselves. But they have it now in their power 
 to secure a system which shall place the fabric of our 
 trade on a new and scientifically organised basis." 
 
 East Anglian Daily Times : " Mr. Stokes cannot be 
 accused of timidity in regard to this matter, and, in 
 fact, a srood many politicians will be aghast at the bold- 
 
24 
 
 ness of the idea. He appeals, however, to the statesmen 
 of the country rather than to the politicians, and there 
 can be no gainsaying the fact that the greatness and 
 completeness of the plan saves it from being relegated 
 to the wastepaper basket unconsidered. Germany has 
 done officially a good deal for her trade ; in fact, the 
 extension of German trade has become a German obses- 
 sion, leading to objectionable practices, and we do not 
 want to emulate them in their objectionableness. We 
 have always realised, however, that more could be done 
 for British trade through our Consular system, if that 
 system was put on a proper footing, and that is the 
 starting point of Mr. Stokes' s scheme. He goes very 
 much further than that his scheme being virtually to 
 replace the Consuls in relation to trade by Imperial 
 Trade Commissioners and fully qualified Commercial 
 Attaches, selected, not through political or other influ- 
 ence, but because of their undoubted commercial talents 
 and suitable knowledge. The volume of foreign trade 
 is of such great importance to a manufacturing nation 
 like ourselves that we ought to be prepared to expend 
 a great deal more on fostering and increasing it than 
 we do at present. Therefore we welcome the question 
 that has been raised, and trust that the proposal put 
 forward will receive deliberate and careful considera- 
 tion at the hands of all who are specially interested in 
 the subject." 
 
 Manchester Courier: "We may describe our atti- 
 tude to the foreign trade of the country as individualism 
 run mad. But it has been worse than that ; it has been 
 criminal in its disregard for all but selfish interests. 
 As long as State help to our foreign trade and its deve- 
 lopment is the plaything of party shibboleths there is 
 not much hope of sensible and necessary guidance and 
 encouragement. Whilst the hatchet is buried now is the 
 
golden opportunity in more senses than one. The need 
 of a generously financed State department, whose sole 
 duty it should be to help in the furtherance of foreign 
 trade, was Mr. Stokes's thesis. The need is for trained 
 men all over the world to defend our trade, under 
 equally qualified leaders. If the other organised pro- 
 fessions and industries move in the matter, the Govern- 
 ment may listen. Perhaps all the political parties then 
 would approach this subject of a trade 'war' abroad 
 with the same unity of purpose as they are doing the 
 struggle-at-arms in which the Empire is engaged." 
 
 Irish Times: " Mr. Stokes points out that we have 
 no efficient machinery for dealing with the great pro- 
 blems and opportunities which the near future must 
 bring. The Foreign Office and the Board of Trade are 
 seriously hampered by lack of funds. . . . These 
 are fundamental reforms, but it is quite possible that 
 some such scheme may become a part of the great 
 national reorganisation which must follow the war. 
 Success in this war will not make us masters of Ger- 
 many's world markets : it will only give us a magnificent 
 opportunity to capture them." 
 
 Page's Engineering Weekly : " It is well known that 
 the constitution of the British Board of Trade is the 
 same to-day as in 1786, notwithstanding the fact that 
 the value of our imports and exports has grown from 
 68,620,000 in 1800 to 1,237,035,959 in 1911. But 
 for absolute ineptitude and neglect of British interests 
 in foreign States we doubt if any other country could, or 
 would, compare with our Consular service. It seems 
 scarcely credible that until recently the British Con- 
 sul-General for the German Empire was not even 
 British; in fact, like the interests he must, in thought 
 
if not in deed, have represented he was, like many other 
 of his so-called British Consular confreres, German ! 
 Need we say more ? " 
 
 Electrical Times: "The greatness of England 
 depends very largely upon her foreign trade. That is 
 why there is no official recognition of it ; for a depart- 
 ment which expends ^d. on every 100 of foreign trade 
 is really not worth mentioning at all. The Board of 
 Trade suffers under a misnomer ; its activities are often 
 in the restraint of trade. The year 1915, we believe, 
 will see the birth of a new commercial policy, and pos- 
 sibly a new Governmental department. That possibility 
 must profoundly affect British engineers and engineer- 
 ing, and it is for this reason that we have accorded 
 somewhat more space than we otherwise might have 
 clone to a recent speech by Mr. Wilfrid Stokes, of the 
 British Engineers 3 Association. Mr. Stokes has said 
 w r hat many of us were thinking." 
 
 Hardwareman and Ironmonger's Chronicle : " The 
 prosperity of the British Empire is bound up with the 
 progress and development of British trade and industry. 
 Before the war the assistance given by the British 
 Government to the promotion of our trade interests 
 abroad was mainly of an academic character, and 
 chiefly consisted of the issue of reports written by 
 British Consuls in foreign countries or by the Trade 
 Commissioners in the Dominions overseas. . . . It 
 requires no argument to prove that State influence and 
 help in connection with foreign trade should be estab- 
 lished on sound common -sense business principles." 
 
 The Marine Engineer: " In order to deal with the 
 problem on a practical basis, the British Engineers' 
 Association have been utilising the energies of their 
 
Executive Committee, and the Chairman of this Com- 
 mittee has indicated certain lines of possible develop- 
 ment which appear to us to be deserving of serious 
 attention." 
 
 Mechanical World: "So much has been heard 
 during the past few months of the need for the develop- 
 ment of British trade abroad, and so little has been 
 done, that one is almost thrown back to the belief that, 
 unaided, British manufacturers are unable or refuse to 
 do what is necessary in order to carry out what w r e are 
 being so frequently told is essential. The relation of our 
 Consular service to the needs of the Empire's trade is 
 still a long way from being what one would call efficient, 
 and it is in this connection that a suggestion by Mr. 
 Wilfrid Stokes, Chairman of the British Engineers' 
 Association, comes with some force." 
 
 The Indiaman: "As supplementary to the Foreign 
 Office and Board of Trade, there undoubtedly exists 
 useful opportunity for additional machinery designed to 
 extend and develop Great Britain's foreign trade." 
 
 Manchester Dispatch: K The scheme for the forma- 
 tion of a new Government department, to be designated 
 the Board of Industry, is receiving considerable support. 
 One of the strong arguments in favour of the creation of 
 a Board of Industry is that it might help the country to 
 pay for the war by means of increased trade." 
 
Gaylord Bros. 
 
 Makers 
 
 Syracuse, N. Y. 
 PAT. JAN. 21, 1908 
 
 Y 83063 
 
 
 UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LIBRARY