The Birmingham age-herald., 1915-07-04
TOMMY ATKINS HAS ENOUGH OF THE WAR Wounded Willing to Go Back, But Not Anxious RECRUITING EFFORTS But Little Response in London Despite All Kinds of Meetings-Everyone
 Wants Someone Else to Do
 the Fighting
RECRUITING EFFORTS
By W. oRroN TENsAu

lists petn III the trencneS or norlHeTH Francois fed up" with war. He ad- mits this not only as an individual bat in platoons and companies; in fact, wherever he may be met about the streets of London or in it's parks and recreation places. Every wounded sol dier who is convalescing in London has a fresh tale of horror to tell.
 This does not mean that Tommy At kins will not go back. It means that he is disgusted with the shirkers who pass by the enrolling places with averted eyes and refuse to go back with him. It means that he feels that tte country does not appreciate his sac71- flee. The man who has been at the front has become a soldier, quick to respond to discipline and with only the union jack his fetish, and he cannot see why the thousands of able men who daily walk the streets of London are permitted to do so.
 A private of one of the London reri- ments which was first to leave for the front was found sitting in Hyde park nursing a wounded thigh.
 How is the hurt?" he was asked
 Far better now he replied.
 Then you soon will be ready to re- turn to the front. l suppose you are anxious to get back into active serv- ice?"
 He stared at tho questioner. There was nothing of resentment in his gaze. It seemed rather one of pity as he said :: You are a Yankee I take 1t. don t know If you have ever been a soldier as I was long before this war Aye, I'm ready to go back when I'm sent. That's what I took the shilling for. But when you say anxious l guess you don't know what it Is over there. I had 10 days of the trenches before I got this |-and two days after, before they got me out. And while I lay wounded my head was damned against the back of a dead pal and the blood from my leg oozed down into the face of another who lay staring at me all the time as though I was responsible for being only wounded while he was dead. All the time I was wishing that it was me in- stead of him.
 Its like continual nightmare over there In South Africa we could see and take heart when we made a hit. In France we fought with shovels and we couldn't see anything to shoot at e en when we knew that the enemy was so near that a head raised inches above the wall of the trench during the day would mean a dead body to keep us company until the night"
 Here the veteran was joined by a group of wounded and convalescent comrades-not all men of the same corps or from the same section of the | battle line-and as he continued his tale l of horror of 42-centimeter shells and howitzer fire, of shrapnel and high power rifle bullets they broke in con tinually with cries of assent and wien he ended "a I'm fed up with the whole bloody business" the "aye, aye of his audience was unanimous.
 Still After Recruits The effort to obtain additional recruits goes on at almost every street corner and recruiting offices have been established In every center. One of the busiest is on the Strand next door to Marconi house. Here service tent has been raised and detail of troops is on dutg during the entire day. but the climax of the work comes during the noon hours when a band plays during the intervals between speeches made by officers and men from | the front urging Londoners to enlist. Generally there are women on the plat form waving flags of the allied nations in l time with the music or emphasizing with the colors the telling points made by the | orators.
 These speakers do not spare their hear CTS. The difference between the man who gees and the man who stays is pointed out as the difference between bravery and cowardice. The danger of invasion Is 1 pointed out and the possibility of a Ger man revel at which English women will
 be the sacrifice Is told, but the response | is slow and not enthusiastic. At one of these meetings today, where a band, a | fife and drum corps and a bugle band played martial and patriotic airs: where women stood waving flags and urging on the reluctant men: where officers and men from the French trenches called for aid in the battle which already has claimed as a sa crifce 25S,000 men, and where re- cruiting sergeants circulated in the crowd asking the men as individuals to enlist, there were only half dozen volunteers. And the crowd was a large one, although many men hastened past with hardly a
 glance.
 If a similar demonstration had taken
 place in the United States-in New York for instance-or in Canada. half the crowd
 would have fiocked to the flag. l London Is lying snug in the security of
 more than 800 years of safety from in-
 vason. There is no memory here of a
 time when it was necessary to defend
 a London home from foreign attack The Zepplin raids have so far been a joke
 so far as London is concerned, and with
 the papers forbidden to publish anything
 about them other than the meagre official
 statement of 20 or 90 words that is issued
 after each of the attacks they are not like
 ly to prove serious enough at any time to provoke the people to action. i Another striking thing about the recruit
 ing is the attitude of the women, especial ly the women of the classes to whom the
 state is appealing. All of them, from an- cent danes to girls in short frocks stand about the recruiting places and
 ridicule the men who refuse to go as cow
 ards. Then they leave and are seen later
 With these same men-or men of the same Itype-apparently perfectly satisfied Ii
 semes to be tho idea here to get someone
 else to go.
 All sorts of excuses are made by those
 who refuse to go. and few of them are
 needed At Trafalgar square the other
 day an American stood watching the busi-
 nes of recruiting. He was approached
 by a sergeant who said:
 1 You're strong, young fellow. Why don't you go?"
 "I am a citizen of the United States, D
 he was told
 you he Said, and the crowd round about
 began to jeer. There was nothing left to
 do but walk away.
 Ports We'll Guarded
 One thing in England is absolute eff
 cient That is the surveillance which Is
 exercised by the authorities in the closed
 ports over newcomers to the country. Ii
 Ia impossible for an alien to debark on
 places like Plymouth, Porthmouth and
 other naval bases
 l An International News Service core
 spondent coming over on the transport Saxonfa, which carried 2lOO Cana dia n ns