The house of Industry : a new estate of the realm

52 THE HOUSE OF INDUSTRY

by the military and civil forces. With these handicaps, it isa monument to the practical genius of the Nation—the most practical, ingenious and inventive people the world has yet seen—that it succeeded as it did. But its success, such as it was, was directly traceable to control and coordination tempered with amazing good humour and patience.

By the fortune of war, I found myself in a responsible position in this astonishing organisation. Few men were better circumstanced to watch its inner workings in the most highly industrialised regions of England. In my own particular sections, my jurisdiction extended from Manchester and Liverpool to Newcastle-on-Tyne, Sunderland and Middlesbrough. Day and night, I was travelling by train or car between these extremes, with fortnightly, and sometimes weekly, conferences in London. And on reflection and with these experiences, I draw certain conclusions.

The first is: That the great financial magnates were mostly helpless and abashed. The race was not to the long-fingered, but to the squat fingers of the practical men. Profit-mongering was not the primary consideration. This or that thing had to be done and damn the cost. Monstrous profits were made; but as a general rule by new men capable of adapting themselves to new con- ditions. Under the governance of the House of Industry, these men would willingly do their job for a tithe of those swollen war-profits. They would have done it in time of war if their cupidity