The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1914-11-29
Why Compulsory Mill.
tary Service Is About
= to Be Inaugurated in
England Rather Than
Conscription.. -.Great
Demand for More Men
~ r. CUNLIFFE-OwEN.

- ing between now and March one
OF three courses. namely the In
aueurat!on OF a system of bounties to
men who enlist, CONSUMPTION. or else
universal compulsory military service.
Lord Kitchener. Premier Asquith and
the other Ministers of the Crown have
announced that another million men
are urgently required for the army and
that the Reinforcement OF the latter
10 this extent In a matter Of absolute
and immediate necessity. They will be
wanted even in the somewhat improb-
able event Of the war being brought to
q sudden close by the outbreak of
popular revolution in Germany. For
Great Britain cannot expect that her
olafrns in connection with the restora-
ton Of peace and with the subsequent
inevitable reconstruction Of the map OF
the world will receive due consideration
unless she has at her command an
army sufficiently large TO give due
weight to her demands.
II the war, as LORD Kitchener and
other experts seem to anticipate. con-
inues throughout the greater part OF
next year the additional million men
win he still more IDiperatively needed
70 fulfil Engiands solemn obliga tons
10 her allies, and above all TO de-
fond the honor Of the fiaS and the
United Kingdom from the horrors OF
foreign invasion-of an invasion like
that which has converted the fair and
prosperous land Of Belgium into a scene
Of appalling ruin. deso.ation and horror.
The fact of the matter Is that the
appeal OF Lord Kitchener and OF the
Government for the additional million
men has received a very unsatisfactory
response and that the recruiting has
fallen Off in the United Kingdom and
Ireland to "A very alarming degree. 1t
would he too much to say that the
patriotic enthusiasm which led so many
tens OF thousands to volunteer for SER
vice In the army has died out. But 1t
cannot be denied that the demand upon
British patriotism has only touched
certain classes in England
Cntil now the response to the sum-
mons Of the Crown has come almost
exclusively from the highest and the
lowest classes. from the titled and un-
tilted aT.stocracy OF Grca; Britain and
ireland and from the working masses,
There has been little or no sign Of real
patriotic endeavor on the part Of he
rich and moderately afIluent middle
classes. that is 10 say OF The higher
and lower bolrgeoisie. The lis; OF
officers killed and wounded contains an
altogether abnormal proportion of
names belonging To the grandest and
oldest houses Of England. Scotland. Ire
land and Wales, and in wonderfully
many instances the name of the dead
is followed by the moving words. AN
only SON.
As for the rank and file. not only the
trained soldiers who were already under
arms at the outbreak of the war. but
also the recruits who are now being
used to fll UP the gaps made by the
fallen and by the wounded, have shown
a pluck and endurance, an abso-
lutte fearlessness, n steadiness under
fire and n level headedness and disci-
pline that have amazed both their al
lies and their foes. They, like their
officers. richly deserve al the sincere
praise that has been meted out to them
by Lord Kitchener, by Field Marshal
Sir John French and by the French
Generalissimo Joffre. But every day
that passes their numbers are being
diminished by the enemys sneIIs ana
bullets and the men are needed to M
the gaps thus made in their ranks
II IL idle TO expect that these losses
should be repaired by the clements OF
the population who have furnished ~
per cent OF the recruits, both in the
commissioned and on-commissioned
ranks. IL Is unfair that the aristocracy
and the working classes shoud alone
pear the puruen OF 'hc iraS anu oi
proVlding Tor inc derehce OF the ,hlteu
Kingdom and ireland from a VISITATION
on the part OF tho Germans su'h as
that from which belgium ana the north
eastern regions OF France are now SUI
fering. Recourse OF some klno' there-
fore, must De had 10 the hIehcr ana
lower bourgeoisie or the United King
dom, who have heretofore manifested
disclnation NOT only 70 respond 10 tho
call 10 arms. hui even TO summit To any
contribution 10 the nalonaI expenses N
connection win the srussIe no" IN
progress,
IL IS 20 tneSe nlooie CLASSES VI 'reat
Britain, lnsular, narrow Hlhued ana
seH-suH l'lent, tndl huuSdrd NlP'''S re-
ferred when he wrote OF the nahneheu
1OOlS at the WlCket, anu tHe Idtc i'Olu