What Happened in England.

On leaving Berlin our squadron was part of the force that had to return to England. I had hoped to break the journey at Brussels, to meet Helen Goche, but Fate stepped in. To my disappointment the troop-trains passed on to Ostend along a line to the south of Brussels.

On arrival in England, the Flying Corps were not disbanded, but were attached to the permanent forces.

Nap, however, desired to return to the United States, and as we shook hands in “good-bye,” I felt I was losing a friend to whom adventurous days had linked me by heart-grips.

“I’m going along through to that country of yours,” he said to me as he swung into the train. “From what you tell me, it must be ‘some place.’ We’ll grip again there, sure.” And the train pulled out and tore him out of my life for many days.

The months succeeding the Declaration of Peace were troublesome times for England. Troops were pouring back from the Continent and being dismissed to return to jobs they found had disappeared.

During the war a fine spirit of “cheer up” generally prevailed. People tried to put vim into themselves by tacking the motto over their shops: “Business as Usual.” They knew full well that business was nearly dead; but they were like the boy who whistled going through the graveyard in order to keep up his courage.

Apart from the trades making munitions of war, few factories maintained their full output. Recruiting lessened the number of employees, and those who stayed behind fought for shorter hours and higher wages. Investors generally eased off, as money was too high in value to risk in new concerns in such uncertain times. Even the highly boosted scheme to bring back to England from Germany the Aniline dye industry failed for the want of the necessary capital.

Then a great movement was inaugurated throughout the British Empire. “Trade only with the Allies.” It seemed a fine idea in theory, but when Russia, in desiring to place an order for L1,400,000 worth of railway plant, found English prices inflated by labor demands and placed the order with America, the “Trade-only-with-the-Allies” movement began to wobble.

Then the troops began to pour back into England in thousands. Manufacturers and investors kept off of any new enterprises as they saw the Asquith Government, always rather radical, lending a sympathetic ear to the workers’ demand that the State should control all industries.

Cities and towns now began to fill with unemployed and riots broke out everywhere.

Then the Government took action. All steel and woollen industries were placed under military control with “preference to returned soldiers.”

The outcries of the owners were pacified by the promise of 10 per cent. of all profits on work done, with proportional profits according to the value of the plant and enterprise. But under the military control, as increased wages were given and shorter hours worked in order to absorb all unemployed, profits diminished rapidly.

The General Elections in February, 1916, divided the country into two parties. The Humanist party, headed by Lloyd-George and Blatchford, aiming at Government control of all production, and the Individualist party, in which Winston Churchill was prominent, standing for “private enterprise.” Though the latter had behind it the full force of British capitalists, the Humanist party, elected on a general franchise, swept the poll. Thus England became Socialistic. Heavy land and income taxes followed with high wages ruling for the working classes. It was a bloodless revolution!