The Birmingham age-herald., 1914-09-12
RIVAL POLITICAL LEADERS UNITE IN
 CALLING RECRUITS
Enthusiastic Meeting Held in London Opera House Last Night-Churchill
 Among Speakers

London. September 1i.--11:15 p. m.)-Un- der the auspices of the National, Liberal and Constitutional clubs, two great rival London political organizations whose members before the war scarcely were on speaking terms, an enthusiastic meet ing was held in the London opera house tonight in support of the prime minis ter's call for recruits. The chief SD sak- CTS were Winston Spencer Churchill, first lord of the admiralty; F. E. Smith. direc- tor of the official press bureau. and Will Crooks, labor leader in the House of Commons
 Tt is too soon to speculate on the re- suit of the great battle being waged in France said Mr Churchill, but every thing we have heard during four days Of anxiet seems to point to a marked and substantial turning of the tide. We have seen the force of the French and British armies strong enough no- only to con- tain and check the devastating avalanche Which has swept over the French frontier, but now for four long days the enemy Las been splendidly rolled pack
 Tn battle taking place on a front Of 100 CT 150 miles one must be careful not to build too high hopes on the re- suits achieved.
 AiiOWdHCe TUT OuCcftdluty
 But when every allowance has been made for the uncertainty with which great operations always are enshrouded over so great an area, the situation to- night is better, far better, than the cold calculation of the forces available before the war could lead us to expect in this carly stage of the campaign But had this battle been as disastrous as, thank God. it appears to be triuiarhant, 1 should have come before you tonight with un- abated confidence. with certainty that we only have to continue our efforts to bring this war to the conclusion which We wish and intend
 The war has been in plogress five or six weeks. In that time we have swept German commerce from the seas. All our ships with inconsideraole excer tions are arriving safely and purclualy at their destinations carrying the comemrce on which the wealth ana industries and ;.ower to make war of this country de- pend. We have transported, not without danger, but still hitherto safely and sue cessfuily, great numbers of soldiers across the seas from all quarters of the world to be directed on the decisive of the land struggle. We have swept the so-called German ocean without discovering German flag.
 Complete Battleships
 The number of battleships that will be completed within the next 12 months is more than double that which will be completed for Germany and the number of cruisers will be three or four times as great. Therefore we may count on the naval supremacy of the country being effectively maintained
 What we now have to do is to make under cover and shield of the navy a great army, strong enough to enable the country to take It's proper share in tho decision of this terrible struggle.
 To make the assistance of the empire effective we should put on the continent < and keep there an arnysof. at~lcast I,00o,- coo men.
 That figure is well within the com pass of arrangements now on foot anu well within the scope of measures which Lord Kitchener has taken By the new year we will have an additional half million men ready for the field and by the summer of 1915 we will have 20 army corps in fighting shape
 It is our life against Gcrmanys Upon that there must be nc compromise or truce. We must go forth unflinchingly to the end