The diamond drill., 1915-08-21
BRITISH OFFICER
BITTER AT NATION
Says Germans Are Winning on
Points While England Talks.
A PLEA FOR CONSUMPTION.
Gs0iish s@uonsss and ArrssAoes De-
nssnssd by Man On Tho Flrics Li~s.
Asss~ts Nation Mvst Forgot Trad
tisns, A~~ks AID orss~i.s 70 WIN
the War.

the War
A remarkable letter has come 10 ths
Daily Chronicie from tho front, pre-
sumabfy written by an ofucex In q
Lancashirs regiment IL follows:
II cannot help bot start with abuse.
touch with the vast anti-conscription-
ist mass OF British opinion as your
leader writer puts It. Damn British
opinion. siri Damn the vain, self com
placent English smugness and English
arrogancsi To your vast mass the
idea OF defeat is quite inconceivabie,
for are they not tho boys Of the bull
dog breed. the descendants or count
less heroes. free men In a free coun-
try, who just won't be slaves, the lib
erators OF Belgium And so on ad
nauseami
80 colossal is British arrogance
that our brains and imagination are
swamped. We still seem 10 think that
the Germans have made war TO graf
ify US. 30 that we may show them
what fine fellows we really are.
Probably you, too, have never en-
tertained the idea that we are losing
this war. Yet the bald truth remains
that the Germans are winning on
points, and we go on talking, talking
about the big push to be delivered
next spring. according to the Times
military correspondent please OBJ
serve that we have given up the idea
this year We are SILL wearing down
the baby killing Hun.D
Advantages With p.f.rs..
"If you could see trenches hammer
Cd to hell by hundreds OF guns. hours
Of smoke. dust, blood and noise and
| then so across TO take these same bat
tered lines. only to be met by a hail OF
bullets. to return. leaving your friends
and men lying dead outside, 1t might
make you realize what an enormous
advantage Hes with the defense.
Tho French have battered for ave
weeks-I have heard It day and night
net gain. two miiesl
''The bubble OF breaking through has
burst, but we are too deaf 10 hear the
pop
you answer with the German ad-
vance In Russia and then 20 on to the
financial problem. or course Germany
cannot last; OF course she Will bs
starved In q few months: OF course she
has no cotton. no copper. but she has
got brains and method and uses both.
And we muddle along In our well
worn grooves, our party politics, our
newspaper dictatorship. our racing. our
brides In their baths
''I have been ten months In France
| lighting for that-the thought almost
makes me vomit.
Don't talk about tho glorious ira
ditions OF our race Only fools fight
for traditions; the wise man fights for
realities aud the future.
This long winded preamble leads me
on 10 your crowning folly-your fear
and hatred OF conscription.
II shall be quite frank. Had con.
scription passed twelve months since
I should have left England Now. II
they don't have It shall leave the
country. Rats have the foresight to
leave certain ships
Calls EnaIishrsr Fools.
circumstances alter cases, but
fear that they will never give the Eng
iishman sufficient insight to wee what
a fool he really can be.
"And you. In touch with your vast
mass. won't have national service in
tho nations cause because all that Ia
enthusiastically English dies II Eng
lish freedom perishes.'
Those worn out mythsl None OF us
"A free, and you know IT, smith was
not free 20 drown his brides We are
all slaves OF the community. and. some
think. OF the country In which we live.
"will you leave your dear old princi-
pies for a moment and look at things
from another point olTiew'
'Tn a great national crisis II must
ba taken for granted q assume that
the nation In viriIe) that every man
and women is willing TO serve the
country. In other words. every man
and woman IL a volunteer
"If you deny this hypothesis you
damn the country and your vast mass
OF British opinion.
Probably your. principles Will not
be shocked by this statement. Well.
then. every man and woman Is willing
to serve To take full advantage OF
this willingness II must be organized
In a word. conscription. that awful
bogfe word which gives some little
Liberals and some little CONSERVATIVES
and some little Socialists bad dreams.
"I know that am not writing to a
child. but conscription does not mean
that every one r. a soldier. II means
that George. who h an engineer. engi-
neers for the state; Tom. who .is a
skilled workman. works for the state:
and Harry and Biii. who are ne 10
aght. fight and perhaps die for the
state. The state calls her children and
alIots 10 them their tasks. What mon