Page "Scottish national identity" Paragraph 44

Between 1906 and 1908 the Clyde shipbuilding industry had suffered a decline in output in 50 % compared to 1905.

Also, the almost equally important steel and engineering industries were ailing.

These were ominous signs for an economy that was based on eight staple industries-in order of numbers employed: agriculture, coal mining, shipbuilding and engineering, textiles, building, steel and fishing.

These eight counted for 60 % of the country's industrial output.

With a 12. 5 % output of the UK production compared with the 10. 5 % of the population, the Scottish economy was by all means a comparatively significant factor in the British economy.

Despite a bleak economic outlook, Scotland did not hesitate in throwing her sons into World War I, which broke out on 4 August 1914.

Though seemingly enthusiastic about the War engagement ( if this is possible ), seen by the fact that Scotland mobilised 22 out of the 157 battalions that made up the British Expeditionary Force, the wartime threat to an exporting economy soon came to be a fore.

Panic spread because of the fear that the War would lead to disastrous conditions for industrial areas, and unemployment would, subsequently, rise.

This panic soon abated, though, as the German offensive on the Western front came to a halt.

In the Glasgow Herald, the MP Sir William Raeburn stated: