[Loud cheers.]
The task--do not let us deceive ourselves--will not be a light one. Its
full accomplishment--and nothing short of full accomplishment
[cheers]--is worthy of our traditions or will satisfy our resolve--will
certainly take months. It may even take years.
I have come here tonight not to ask you to count the cost, for no price
can be too high to pay when honor and freedom are at stake, but to put
before you, as I have tried to do, the magnitude of the issue and the
supreme necessity that lies upon us as a nation, nay as a brotherhood
and family of nations, to rise to its height and acquit ourselves of our
duty.
Our Favorable Position.
The war has now lasted more than six weeks. Our supremacy at sea [great
cheers] has not been seriously questioned. [Laughter.] Full supplies of
food and of raw materials are making their way to our shores from every
quarter of the globe. [Cheers.] Our industries, with one or two
exceptions, maintain their activities.
Unemployment is so far not seriously in excess of the average. The
monetary situation has improved, and every effort that the zeal and the
skill of the Chancellor of the Exchequer, [cheers,] with the
co-operation and expert advice of the bankers and business men of the
country, can devise--every effort is being made to achieve what is most
essential, the complete re-establishment of the foreign exchanges.
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