Richmond times-dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1914-current, 1916-06-07
Kitchener,s Claim to Fame

= RITAIN will mourn for Kitchener OF
- khartum. and recognize his services to
the empire and to the allied cause. and honor
the memory Of Il gallant man and an able if
not great, soldier but Britain is struck no
staggering blow by his tragic death Already
he had done his bit" His contribution to
allied success had been made. The task yet
TO be performed perhaps will be better per-
formed by other hands
1t in raising. arming and eQuipping
the largest volunteer army the world has
ever seen that Kitchener served his country
best. That was his mission to which he was
called by the voice Of the nation. Britain's
effective forces for overseas service at the
outbreak OF war numbered less than 200 900
men. In the sense Of fighting on land. it had
long ceased to be military nation. Lulled
to false security by the twin factors of it's
own inclination to peace and its Mighty navy,
Britain had slumbered while Germany armed
Then came the unexpected shock of war
and the dawning realization that the empire
must battle land as we'll as on the sea-
The navy would not suffice. There must be
an army, and to raise this tremendous host
was the task committed to Kitchener. He
attacked it with characteristic strength and
directncss and in the face of enormous diff
tcultics. Supplies were lacking. Recruits
drilled without uniforms and even without
rifles ~ commissariat had to be developed.
Staff corps of every description-medical,
ordnance, transport. engineering. aviation
had virtually TO be created The eXpedi-
tionary force sent to France and its early re-
endorsements consumed most of the officers
and noncommissioned officers in reserve so
there were insufficient drillmasters. and these
vitality necessary assistants had TO be evolved
from material. The entire output of
rifles at the maximum capacity of the fac
tories OF Great Britain was few thousand
per week. The plants manufacturing heavy
ordnance and ammunition were similarly
deficient.
These We're some of the problems that
Kitchener faced and for months sought un-
aided 10 surmount In organizing industry
he failed, and Lloyd George was called to his
assistance as Minister Of Munitions but to
bring an army into existence was his own
task and in this he achieved what history
Will recognize as wonderful success In
year and n half. shown by King
Georges statement in signing the compulsion
bill. over 100000 men answered the cal to
the colors. This unframed mob has been
transformed into fighting machine that now
is facing Germany's veterans and holding it's
own How efficient IL has become, the ex-
pected allied offensive ought soon TO reveal
AS strategist. Kitchener developed no
great capacity for dealing with the difficulties
OF this world struggle Some OF the
hiunderS Britain has perpetrated probably
should he ascrhed to him. The failure or
partial success at Neuve Chapelle, and the
tremendous loss of life suffered by British
troops on that occasion, were imputed by Sir
John French TO the lack of high explosive
shells with which to shatter the German de-
lenses. The iasco at Gallipoli, the adventure
III Mesopotamia evidenced the same inability
to appreciate the demands of war operations
on the heroic scale Of this contest To what
extent Kitchener was responsible, history will
assess with impartial pen. but even to the
layman II was clear that somebody nodded
and the War Secretary has had to bear the
blame
me work Will go on, although Kitchener
has fallen. a man will be found to take his
/. place. He had achieved what he was hest
fitted to achievehe had created the hammer
with which Britain hopes to batter way
through the German lines. 1t will be for
some one else to WELD that mighty weapon