berately suppressed would be highly improper. The
Northcliffe Press had also maybe failed to become acquainted with the
great increase that had taken place in the forces at the front, as
compared to the strength of the original Expeditionary Force which had
provided the basis of calculation for munitions in pre-war days, an
increase for which there was no counterpart in the armies of our
Allies or of our enemies. Or the effect that this must have in
accentuating munitions shortage may have been overlooked, obvious as
it was. Be that as it may, the country readily accepted the story as
it stood, and was in consequence grievously misinformed as to the
merits of the question. The real truth has only leaked out since the
cessation of hostilities, and it is not generally known now.[6]

[Footnote 6: So late as the 21st of April 1920 _The
Times_ included the following passage in a leading
article: "Every gunner officer on the Western Front
during the winter of 1914-15 knows that there was a
grave and calamitous deficiency of shells, and that
no satisfactory attempt was made to rectify it
until the matter was exposed in _The Times_."
Dragging in the "gunner officer" at the front (who
could not possibly tell what steps were being taken
to rectify the deficiency) does not alter the fact
that this passage amounts to an accusation that no
satisfactory attempt was made to rectify the
deficiency until after the Northcliffe Press stunt.
_The Times_ may have been so ill-informed as to the
actual facts in 1915 as to suppose that this was
true. _The Times_ cannot have been so ill-informed
as to the actual facts in 1920 as to suppose that
it was true.]

After the Government had decided to create a Munitions Ministry with
Mr. Lloyd George at its head, one of the first incidents that occurred
was an unsavoury one. In the course of the discussions in the House of
Commons over the Bill setting up this new Department of State, Sir H.
Dalziel, a newspaper proprietor and a politician of long standing,
delivered on the 1st of July a violent diatribe directed against Sir
S. von Donop, the Master-General of the