Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1915-01-28
War Causes Change in Official
Attitude Towards Matri-
mony in England.
CHILDREN TO FILL RANKS
Quarter Mii::E Young Fathers Who
Are Expected TO Fail in War
Leave Offspring.
az I. p. o,coNNoR.
(Foreign Correspondent of the Chi
c7so Tribune)

with David Lloyd-George in these
crowded days OF wa- you must take
a meal with him. Every second OF the
day OF the chancellor of the ex-
chequer IS pawned for the gigantic
work that has fallen upon his depart
ment.
After one of the meetings of the
pension committee ] went to his house
for lunch AID a chat. Suddenly there
entered a young man who seemed quite
familiar. yet quite strange. He was
Gwyllym LIoyd-GeOrge, one Of the
two sons the chancellor has allowed
TO go into the fighting ranks, who had
/ been allowed week end vacation
! from Camp Liandudno. where the
( Welsh regiments are in training. He
had to 20 Immediately after lunch to
/ resume his drill in trench digging.
He seemed strange. though familiar,
I because he was dressed in khaki and
had grown several inches taller. He
/ is now a strapping fellow, several
inches taller than either of his par
ents The transformation has come /
largely from several weeks of hard /
drill.
Chic to Be Shabby.
Dress generally tends TO the Quaker
like Men do not go half so often to
the tailor l have heard it said, half
jollingly but wholly in earnest, that
nowadays il is chic to be shabby. \
middle aged bachelor who took to his
evening dress and a gorgeous button
hole nightly with the rigid severity of
q religious duty startled me by turn
ing up at d bridge party in tweeds. He
had become a special constable, and,
after a life of easy enjoyment is
walking the cold. rainy street from
to in the morning.
Women show the same tendencies.
Fashionable dressmakers are doing
badly. The fact that every woman is
doing something for the soldiers has
made knitting not merely universal
but an ubiquitous occupation.
The war fever is raging as strongly
among the women as among the men.
Rush TO Marry.
The marriage rate is going up by
leaps and bounds The young officer
appears At St. Georges, Hanover
square. within IS hours after sleeping
on straw and wading in the trenches
at the front. The wounded soldier
comes home. is patched up in the hos
pital. rushes to the young woman. sets
off TO the church amid an admiring
and enthusiastic crowd, and goes to
the front again. s
have heard the fierce rush for mar
riage explained by the psychological
law which SchopenhaUer revealed and
George Bernard Shaw illustrated. in c
Man and Superman. the law called c
the viii TO live" Il is certain that v
a quarter of a million virile young b
Britons who may be sent to their Il
graves by the war will be replaced [
next year by new generation of c
their healthy children. a
The marriage rate has been in
creased by a change in the official at il
titude. 1t has been the consistent pol f
icy OF the war Office to do everything L
10 keep the army so far as possible
celibate. An army so mobile that it T
was ready to go from Aldershot one p
lay to the farthest point in India on t,
another had to be mainly celibate. a
The result was that a limited num- b
Der of soldiers received permission TO Il
marry and that those marriages which b
we're not by permission did not exist
n the eyes of the war Office. t'
Rich, But in Ranks e
The new army has changed that as N
veil as other things. The other evening ST
met a young fellow, uniformed in et
,haki, English by birth and sentiment 81
ret having u good deal of Belgian al
Hood, as his relatives for generations fo
lad carried on big business in Bel
,ium. He is married, has three chill e'
ren, and an income OF several thou nj
and pounds year; yet he is serving IN
S private soldier. az
young barrister just getting Iii
ractice said to a comrade that he US
couldn't rest; so he started off in &C
he mine sweeping operations in the al
forth sea. a
The admixture of all classes in the pc
rmy and the large proportion of
Dung married men has rendered i'm
ossible the maintenance of the old
rule. The breakdown of bu
le celibate system has led to many sc
urious consequences sad is bringing wi
ut the gigantic propositions which the to
dial wave of enthusiasm for war has tn
cached. of
The war Office sends an allowance sc
eekly to the wife of each soldier. and ed
Q is expected to augment the allow of
nee by a portion of his pay, which is ar,
ostly II cents q day. The widow of ed
soldier gets an average of S3I2 a cei
e1&, with an additional sum for each
hid. dis
The following Incident is going the SUI
'unds The commanding officer saws pu
a Tommy indistinguishable from sos
" other: hat
Surely, my man, you can't grudge as
cents a day for the girl at home" glo
We'll, no. sir. Tommy replies. wa
nut You see have already given her goc
allowance of $4,000 year" sh,
----------- vii
Galesbnrg, IlL-At an egg-laying con-
st Just closed in which so hens were ion
the partridge Rock hens be
vned by Charles I Shah hrnl,a n