The Bennington evening banner. (Bennington, Vt.) 19??-1961, 1916-03-29
General Service is Best.

At the risk Of harping continually on
one string, we refer once more to the
matter OF general military service for
the purpose OF demonstrating its ad
vantage over the so-called yoluntar!
system as means of national pre-
paredness.
We need no more forcible object les
son han the contrast between the two
allies, Great Britain and France, in the
present war. France, where military
training Is compulsory to all, has been
the mainstay in the long and gruellng
warfare in the west. Great Britain
which has depended mostly on volun-
tary enlistment. still makes sorry
showing on land, after twenty months
OF war While the French move like a
well-oiled machine, planting theli
blows and warding them off like a
skilled boxer, the British halt and
stumble and stagger, doing the wrong
thing in the wrong way at the wrong
time, wasting lives and treasure pro
digiously and accomplishing little IL
eLs Huot SPiNS VI ehN A''AiASb
or more men sent to the western
front, England has not been able to
wrest a single vantage point from the
Germans and has barely held her own
Since the September fighting hei
army there has been inert, apparent
ly unable to take the offensive. Were
she now to launch heavy drive, II
might mean the salvation of the hard
pressed French, but the Germans feai
nothing in that quarter. At Gallipoli
at Saloniki, in Mesopotamia it is the
same The British soldier has no super
Tor as a brave. logged fighter, but in
this war he is poorly organized, poorly
munitioned, poorly led.
And it is the fault of the system
Under the stress of great conflict
like this. 1t seems impossible to enlist
organize, discipline and equip great
armies. This preparation must pre-
coed the conflict. France prepared,
was ready and, whatever the outcome,
has won greater laurels than ever be-
fore Great Britain. secure in her navy.
neglected her land forces, depended on
the volunteer in case OF an emergency
and she and her allies, who sorely need
help from every available quarter, are
suffering the inevitable penalty. Like
a fettered giant she cannot use her
strength because she is not girded for
conflict and she cannot spare the time
and the energy needed now to prepare,
for the stress is upon her.
In France every man was trained
soldier with his place in the ranks.
When war came he knew he must go
and he went without Sinking or whim-
pering. One thing that helped him was
the knowledge that everybody else was
going-he did not have to fight for the
other fellow. In England there has been
a tremendous effort, with attendant US
ing up Of energy, in getting men into
the ranks. After the first outburst and
those who really burned to fight had
gone and been killed; after England
really saw the seriousness of it; there
came the hanging back. Glory, 1t ap.
peared was too dear to be bought at the
price True, very many did enlist, but
not nearly enough, for every possible
man was needed. Some did not go be-
cause others would not. The married
men felt that single men should all
go first, and the single men didn't look
at it the same way. There was and still
is serious dissension over the matter.
with no settled policy yet agreed upon.
Nominally, there is a compulsion law
for single men with Ireland excepted.
but the government still relies on such
enlistments as it can get If the truth
were known, as it will be sometime,
the deplorable inefficiency of the Brit
ish army system would condemn it ut
terly.
Bear in mind that both England and
France are democracies, and that it is
the system that is at fault in England,
not the form of government That COM
! pulsory training may be carried out
successfully by republic and does not
| depend upon autocracy or monarchy
| for its force is shown in the case of
France, which has indeed rivalled the
| famed organization of Germany.
Applying these lessons to our own
| country, we may observe that 1t is un.
necessary to intensity military training
as the Old World powers have done
We do not need a tremendous standing