Richmond times-dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1914-current, 1915-08-16
MEN FIGHTING At FRONT
FAVOR CONSUMPTION
Ihey View With Displeasure Present
Government and Press of
England.
NOTE OF DIsCoURAGEMENr
Letter From Soldier in Flanders
Puts Case Strongly Before London
Paper, and Pleads That Country
Act Before 1t Is Too Late.

LONDON. August 15.-Thc British
soldiers at the front in France. mem
bers of Lord Kitchcncr's cxpcditionary
torce, favor CONSUMPTION.
This is but one instance of the dis
FAVOR with which the lighting men OF
England. who arc giving their time
ana their lives to their country, view
.he present government and also tho
press OF the United Kingdom.
Ihat dissatisfaction with the man
her IN which the war has been con-
nucted during its first year is spread
ING throughout the British nation there
can be no doubt. The following letter
from British soldier in Flanders to
u London newspaper Is self-cxplana
tory:
To the Editor:
abuse, although you arc only one or
those I'm touch with the vast anti
conscriptionist mass of British onin.
ion, as your leader writer puts i,
In British opinion. sir: d--n the vain.
sclf-complaccnt English smugness and
English arrogance. To your vast
mass" the idea of defeat is quite incon-
ccivable. for are they not the BOYS OF
the bulldog breed, the descendants OF
countless heroes. free men in n free
country, who just won't be slaves the
liberators Of Belgium, and SO on, ad
naseum? So colossal is British AFRO
gance that our brains and imagination
iarc swamped.
l shall be quite frank. Had con-
scription passed twelve months since, /
should have left England. Now. II they
don't have 1t l shall leave tho country
rats have tho foresight to leave certain
ships.
Circumstances alter cases. but I fear
that they will never give the English
man sufficient insight to see what a
fool he really can be.
And you. In touch with your vnst
mass. won't have national service in
! the nations cause because "all that is
enthusiastically English dies II Eng
fish freedom perishes.'
Those WORKOUT myths! None OF us
are free. and you know it We are all
slaves OF the community. and. some
think, OF tho country in which we live
Will you leave your dear old prin-
ctpics for moment and look at things
from another point OF view?
In great national crisis il must be
taken for granted q assume that the
nation Is virile) that every man and
woman is willing TO serve the country
In other words, every man and woman
Is a volunteer
II you deny this hypothesis. you
damn the country and your vas, ma SIS
of British opinion"
Probably your principles" will not
he shocked by this statement Well
then. every man and woman is willing
TO serve To take fun advantage OF
this Willingness, II must he organized
in a word conscription: that awful
DOGGY word. which gives some little
Liberals and some little Conservatives
and some little Socialists bad dreams.
/ know that ] am not writing to a
child. but conscription does not mean
that every one Is soldicr-it means
that George. who is an engineer, engi-
neers for the state. Tom. who is a
skilled workman. works for the state :
and Harry and Bill. who arc Mt TO night,
nGht and perhaps die for the state
The state calls her children and al
lots to them their tasks
What monstrous, wicked. bloody op-
preston!
And you must go on unblushingly
with your old voluntary mudd!e
George. the engineer. may Join the r.
A NJ. c.; Tom. the skilled workman.
may fight, and the Harrys and Bills
may become politicians and newspaper
editors. for all the country seems TO
care.
or course. one volunteer is equal TO
four pressed men. Our copybook say
so. therefore II must be true ANY
how" said an English soldier. IT hope
never meet n-Germnn volunteer"
Throw away your principles. man
throw away the Timber of the past and
look things in the face.
Don't blather about God UNFOLDING
the cause OF the just and the bulldog
pluck pulling us through am tired
or pulpit and music hall sentiments
Try to teach your vast mass of British
opinion TO surpass the Germans at
their own game
| cannot shy why ] have treated you
10 this round of abuse-you are no
worse than others if anything, is a
trife better than that loathsome North
cline crowd, with their party political
jobbery.
But. you. sir. are blinded by prin-
ciples which is nearly as bad. Bound
hand and foot by past traditions and
tho utternnces Of statesmen now hap
PLY dead. but unfortunately not for
gotten. Cannot the Daily Chronicle"
bound by the opinions OF. say. Glad
stone? Really, even such a demigod
as he can get out OF date.
Could you but realize how nauseating
it is to read any London daily. the
mouthpieces of the nation Gn block
letters. plcase), with their squabbles,
their meanness and their follies.
You are better-that is why take
the trouble TO write this, but good God
you're bad enough.
l am abusive. but when moved, super
fcial politeness is jettisoned, and, can
! didly, nothing would give me greater
pleasure than to drive these things into
your head with n mallet--the distance,
however, is too great Even the Ger
mans and their deadly earnestness can
not convince you.
: This letter is not intended for any
publicity, though it would be amusing
to see some of your public reading IL !:
nor is 1t intended to draw forth any