“Gentlemen”—he dropped the usual ceremonial form of address—“I wished to allow these members who do not agree with me to select themselves; and I adopted the simplest and most convincing method of doing so, though I could have laid my hand on every one of them without this demonstration. These gentlemen, it appears, are not satisfied with the manner in which things are being done here. I would point out to you that the creation of the Nitrogen Area has been mine from the start; and that the machinery of it is controlled by me now. There is no room for dual control in an enterprise of this magnitude. I offer you all positions in which you can help the remnant of the nation in saving itself; but there are no such positions in this House. Do you agree?”
For a moment there was silence, then an angry murmur ran from bench to bench. Nordenholt continued:
“Those members who were removed from the House will to-night be embarked on planes; and by this time to-morrow I trust that they will all be safely landed, each in the constituency which he represents. Since they do not wish to aid us in the Nitrogen Area, it is fitting that they should go back to their constituents and assist them in the troubles which are about to break upon them. Are you content?”
Again there was a murmur, but this time less defiant.
“Finally, gentlemen, as I hear some whispers of constitutionalism, I have here a Proclamation by the King. He has dissolved Parliament. You are no longer clothed with even the semblance of authority.”
The assembly was thunderstruck; for there seemed to be no reply to this.
“I may say,” continued Nordenholt, “that some of you are of no personal value in this enterprise. These gentlemen also will be returned to their proper residences immediately. The remainder, whom I can trust, will be so good as to apply at my offices to-morrow, when their work will be explained to them. There is only one ultimate authority here now—myself.”
It was a sadly diminished assembly that appeared on the morrow. Neither the Prime Minister nor the Colonial Secretary was found among its numbers.
*****
With the working men who formed the majority of the Nitrogen Volunteers, Nordenholt’s methods were entirely different. Here he had in the first stages to conciliate those with whom he dealt and to educate them gradually into an understanding of the task before them. In the beginning, no man worked more than eight hours per day or five days a week; and the general run of the workmen had a thirty-five hour week. Nordenholt’s object in this was twofold. In the first place, he instilled into the men that he was an easy task-master; and secondly, he was able, by keeping check of the output, to place his finger upon those men who even under those easy conditions were not doing their full share. These workers he proposed to eliminate at a later period; but he wished to allow them to condemn themselves.
Next, he set going various newspapers. The contents of these, of course, dealt entirely with doings within the Nitrogen Area; but their readers soon grew accustomed to this: and as the main object of the journals was propaganda, the less actual news there was in them, the more likely it became that the propaganda would be read for want of something better.
Through these papers, he began to explain very clearly the necessity for the work upon which they were engaged, handling the subject in all manner of ways and making it seem almost new each time by the fresh treatment which it received from day to day. During this period no hint of the underlying purpose of the Nitrogen Area was given, beyond the suggestion that it was a convenient spot, in view of its natural resources.
In order to alleviate any grievances which they might feel, he devised a system of workmen’s committees, one for each trade; and the members of these bodies were elected separately by the married and unmarried men in proportion to their numbers. In this way he secured a majority of the more responsible men upon each committee, although no fault could be found with the method of election. Whatever grievances were ventilated by these committees were met immediately or the reasons against compliance with the demands were clearly and courteously explained.
In fact, throughout this stage of the Nitrogen Area history, Nordehholt’s main object was to show himself in the light of a comrade rather than a task-master. He was building up a fund of popularity, even at considerable cost, in order that he might draw upon it later. It was a difficult game to play; for he could not afford to drive with an altogether loose rein in view of the necessity for haste; but, as he himself said, he understood men; and he was perhaps able to gain their confidence at a cheaper rate than most people in his position could have done. Like myself, he believed that fundamentally the working man is a sound man, provided that he is dealt with openly and is not made suspicious.
Within a fortnight, in one way and another, practically every man in the Area understood the importance of his work. I question whether this was not the greatest of Nordenholt’s triumphs, though perhaps in perspective it may seem a small affair in comparison with other events. But the generation of enthusiasm is a difficult matter, much more difficult than feats which produce immediate effects.
In one respect Nordenholt gauged the psychology of the masses accurately. He did not make himself cheap. Except at a few mass meetings which he addressed, none of the rank and file ever saw him at all. He knew the value of aloofness and a touch of mystery.
But he did not confine himself to moves made openly upon the board. Behind the scenes he had collected an Intelligence Division, the existence of which was known only to a few; and by means of it he was able to put his finger on a weak spot or a centre of disaffection with extraordinary promptitude. Grievances were often remedied long before the appropriate committee had been able to cast their statement of them into a definite form. Nor, as I shall have to tell later, did this Intelligence Division confine its operations to the Nitrogen Area itself; for its network spread over the whole Kingdom.
As soon as the machinery of the Area was working satisfactorily, Nordenholt took a step in advance. The Workmen’s Committees were supplied with the actual statistics of production and it was explained to them that speeding-up must begin. The ultimate object was still concealed; but sufficient information was laid before them to show that at their present rate of output the nitrogenous materials prepared by the end of the twelve months would be totally insufficient to yield food enough for even the population of the Area itself, without taking the outer regions into account. They were then asked to suggest means by which output might be raised; and time was given them to think the matter out in all its bearings. Without hesitation they agreed that there must be an increase in productivity.
To raise the output and also to check the points where any loss was occurring, Nordenholt introduced a series of statistical charts and at the same time divided the workmen in each trade into gangs of a definite number. At the end of each week, these charts were submitted to the Trade Committee and the gangs which were failing to do their share were indicated. By pointing out that a fixed quantity of material must be obtained per week unless disaster were to ensue, Nordenholt was able to make it clear to the Committees that slackness in one gang entailed extra exertions on the rest. There was no question of an employer trying to force up the standard of work: it was simply a question whether they wished to starve or live.
The effect of this was striking; and certainly it was a novelty in working conditions. Every man became a policeman for his neighbours, since he knew that slackness on their part would demand greater exertions upon his own. The Committees instituted a system of inspectors, nominated by themselves, to see that work was properly carried out; and these inspectors reported both to the Committees and to Nordenholt himself, through special officials. Before long, both the Committees and Nordenholt had an extensive black list of inefficient workers; and the stage was being set for another drastic lesson.
For three days the Area newspapers contained full accounts of the state into which things had drifted; and it was made obvious even to the most ignorant what the inevitable result would be if the outpu
t were not raised. Then, having thus prepared his ground, Nordenholt summoned a meeting of workmen delegates. It was the first time that most of those present had seen him; and I think he counted upon making his personality tell. He had no chairman or any of the usual machinery of a meeting; everything was concentrated upon the tall, dark figure, alone upon the platform.
It was a short speech which he made; but he delivered it very slowly, making every point tell as he went along and leaving time for each statement to sink well home into the minds of his audience. He began by a clear account of the objects for which they were working—and he had the gift of lucid exposition. He handled the statistical side of the matter in detail, and yet so simply that even the dullest could understand him. When he had completed his survey, every man present saw the state of affairs in all its bearings.
Then, for the first time, he explained to them that those in the Nitrogen Area were all that could be saved; and that their salvation could be accomplished only at the cost of labour far in excess of anything they had anticipated.
“Now, men,” he continued, “remember that I am not your task-master. I am merely striving, like yourselves, to avert this calamity; and I think I have already shown you that I have spent my best efforts in our common cause. I have no wish to dictate to you. I leave the decision in your own hands. Those of you who wish to starve may do so. It is your own decision; even though it involves your wives and families, I will not interfere. I ask no man to work harder than he thinks necessary.
“But I put this point before you. Is it right that a man who will not strain himself in the common service should reap where he has not sown? Is it right that any man should batten upon the labour of you all while refusing to do his utmost? Will you permit wilful inefficiency to rob you and your children of their proper share in the means of safety? Or do you believe that this community should rid itself of parasites?
“I leave myself entirely in your hands in the matter. I take no decision without your consent. If you choose to toil in order that they may take bread from your children’s mouths, it is no affair of mine. I will do my best for you all, in any case. But I would be neglecting my duty did I not warn you that there is no bread to spare. Every mouthful has been counted; and even at the best we shall just struggle through.
“These are the facts. Do you wish to retain these inefficients among you? Without your consent, I can make no move. I ask you here and now for your decision.”
He held the meeting in the hollow of his hand. Cries of “No. Away with them. No spongers,” and the like were heard on all sides. Nordenholt held up his hand, and silence came at once. The meeting hung on his words.
“Those in favour of allowing this inefficiency to continue, stand up.”
No one rose.
“Very good, men. I will carry out your decision. This meeting is at an end.”
The morning papers contained a full report of his speech; but before they were in the hands of the populace, Nordenholt had acted. All the ca’ canny workmen had been arrested during the night, along with their families, and removed to the southern boundary, where they were placed on trains and motors ready for transport to the Border. The thing was done with absolute silence and with such efficiency that it seemed more like kidnapping than an ordinary process of arrest. Nordenholt knew the advantage of mystery; and he proposed to make these disappearances strike home on the public mind. The inefficients vanished without leaving a clue behind.
At the Border, each of them was supplied with provisions exactly equivalent to the rations remaining in the outer world; and they were then abandoned as they stood. Nothing was ever known of their fate. When the works opened again in the morning, their fellows missed them from the gangs and time enough was allowed for their disappearance to sink in; after which a redistribution took place which closed up the gaps. But the very mystery served to heighten the effect of the lesson. For the first time, Fear in more than one form had entered the Nitrogen Area.
I remembered what Nordenholt had said to me some weeks earlier: “I shall deal with them—and I shall do it by the hand of their own fellows.”
So you can understand the roaring tide of industry which mounted day by day in the Area. This sudden stroke had done more than anything else to convince the people of the seriousness of the situation. Ten thousand men had been condemned and had vanished on an instant—Nordenholt made no secret of the number; and the remainder realised that things must indeed be grave when a step of this kind had been necessary. He had given no time for amendment: condemnation had been followed by the execution of the sentence: and it was they themselves who had pronounced the decree. They could not lay it upon his shoulders. And the veil of mystery which enwrapped the fate of the convicted ones had its value in more than one direction. Had Nordenholt caused them to be shot, public sympathy would have been aroused. But this impenetrable secrecy baffled speculation and prevented men from forming any concrete picture which might arouse compassion.
Choosing his moment, Nordenholt announced that, in future, the factories would be run continuously, shift after shift, throughout the twenty-four hours. For a time he called a halt to the newspaper campaign for increased output. He would need this form of publicity later; and he did not wish it to become staled by constant repetition.
For the present he was satisfied. Everything was now in train and he was into his stride all along the line. At last statistics were accumulating which would enable him to gauge exactly how the machinery was running; and he held his hand until a balance sheet could be drawn with accuracy.
*****
At this point in my narrative I am trying to produce a conspectus of the Nitrogen Area as it was during that period in its career. I leave to the imagination of my readers the task of picturing that gigantic concentration of human effort: the eternal smoke-cloud from a thousand chimney-stacks lying ever between us and the sun; the murky twilight of the streets at noon; the whir of dynamos and the roar of the great electric arcs; the unintermittent thunder of trains pouring coal into the city; and, above all, the half-naked figures in the factories, toiling, toiling, shift after shift in one incessant strain through the four-and-twenty hours. No one can ever depict the details of that panorama.
But alongside this vast outpouring of physical energy there lay another world, calm, orderly and almost silent, yet equally important to the end in view: the world of the scientific experts in their laboratories and research stations. To pass from one region to the other was like a transition from pandemonium to a cloister.
Nordenholt had grouped his experts into three main classes, though of course these groups by no means included all the investigators he controlled. It was here that the Nordenholt Gang were strongest, for the path of the scientific man is one which offered the greatest chances to Nordenholt’s scheme for the furthering of youth.
In the first place came the group of chemists and electricians who were engaged upon the improvement of nitrogen-fixation methods; and between this section and the factories there was a constant liaison; so that each new plant which was erected might contain the very latest improvements devised by the experts.
The second group contained the bacteriologists, whose task it was to investigate the habits of B. diazotans, to determine whether it could be exterminated in any practical manner, to work out methods of protecting our stores of synthetic nitrogenous materials from it by means of antiseptics, and to discover what methods could be employed to prevent its ravaging the new crops when they were obtainable.
Finally, the experts in agriculture overlapped with the chemical group, since many of the questions before them were concerned with the chemistry of the soil. I have already mentioned how the action of B. diazotans disintegrated the upper strata of the land and reduced the soil to a friable material. This formed one of the most troublesome features in the cultivation problem, since the porosity of the ground allowed the water to sink through, and thus plants sown in the affected fields were left without any liqui
d upon which they could draw for sustenance. It was J. F. Hope, I believe, who finally suggested a solution of the matter. His process consisted in mixing colloid minerals such as clays with the soil and thus forming less permeable beds; and the agricultural experts were able to establish the minimum percentages of clay which were required in order to make crops grow.
I have mentioned these points in order to show how much we in the Area depended upon the pure scientists for help. But it must not be supposed that only those lines of scientific investigation capable of immediate application were kept in view by Nordenholt. I learned later, as I shall tell in its proper place, that he had cast further afield than that.
I cannot give details of the work on the scientific side, because I have no intimate acquaintance with them; but I met the results on every hand in the course of my own department’s affairs. From day to day a new machine would be passed for service and put into operation, some fresh catalyst would be sent down for trial on a large scale after having been tested in the laboratory, or there might be a slight variation in the relative quantities of the ingredients in some of our factory processes. There was a constant touch between research and large-scale operations.
In the course of this I used often to have to visit the Research Section; and in some ways, I found it a mental anodyne in my perplexities. These long, airy laboratories, with their spotless cleanliness and delicate apparatus, formed a pleasant contrast to the grimy factories and gigantic machines among which part of my days were passed. And I found that the popular conception of the scientific man as a dry-as-dust creature was strangely wide of the mark. It may be that Nordenholt’s picked men differed from others of their class; but I found in them a directness in speech and a sense of humour which I had not anticipated. After the hurry and confusion of the improvisation which marked the opening of the Nitrogen Area, the quiet certainty of the work in the Research Section seemed like a glimpse of another world. I do not mean that they talked like super-men or that the investigations were always successful; but over it all there was an atmosphere of clockwork precision which somehow gave one confidence. These men, it struck me for the first time, had always been contending with Nature in their struggle to wrest her secrets from her; while we in the other world had been sparring against our fellows with Nature standing above us in the conflict, so great and so remote that we had never understood even that she was there. Now, under the new conditions, all was changed for us; while to these scientific experts it was merely the opening of a fresh field in their long-drawn-out contest.
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