The people must be told
exactly what the position is, and then we can ask them to help. We must
appeal for the co-operation of employers, workmen, and the general
public; the three must act and endure together, or we delay and maybe
imperil victory. We ought to requisition the aid of every man who can
handle metal. It means that the needs of the community in many respects
will suffer acutely vexatious, and perhaps injurious, delay; but I feel
sure that the public are prepared to put up with all this discomfort,
loss, and privation if thereby their country marches triumphantly out of
this great struggle. [Cheers.] We have every reason for confidence; we
have none for complacency. Hope is the mainspring of efficiency;
complacency is its rust.
We laugh at things in Germany that ought to terrify us. We say, "Look at
the way they are making their bread--out of potatoes, ha, ha!" Aye, that
potato-bread spirit is something which is more to dread than to mock at.
I fear that more than I do even von Hindenburg's strategy, efficient as
it may be. That is the spirit in which a country should meet a great
emergency, and instead of mocking at it we ought to emulate it. I
believe we are just as imbued with the spirit as Germany is, but we want
it evoked.
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