Every evening, Wilmington daily commercial., 1918-08-27
Recruiting Here
for King George
BY Frederic ]. Haskin

4
| by considerably affecting the destinies of
between 100000 and 100000 English
subjects resident in the United States.
| The convention, which was hurried
| through the Senate some time after Amer
! lea joined the Allies, extended TO officials
OF the British armies the right to recruit
| Enplshmen Scotchmcn, Weshmen and
Canadians who have made temporary or
| permanent homes here.
When the convention expires all British
subjects between the ages of 20 and 44
will he subject to draft into the American
| forces under the regulations Of the British
| conscription act BY the same token,
| Americans of draft age now living in
| british territory will he eligible for draft
into the armies of Great Britain, under
| the same regulations IN force IN this coun-
| try Elaborate warnings Of this have been
| issued to both classes
A conservative estimate puts IT that
there are still in this country some 10000
Pritons of military age. The British Re
| crtuting Mission ~ putting forth every
effort to induce these men 10 join the
| King s forces, rather than be drafted INTO
| the American. Our own draft officials
are aware that this IS being done m no
spirit of malice towards the nited states
Army, and are lending assistance 10 bring
| II about.
BRfroNs HAVE SUFFERED.
II is no secret that the population Of the
British Isles has suffered tremendously
from the war. In England and Scotland
one out Of every seven Of the whole popu-
lation has gone to the front. II appeared
unfair to both English and American
officers that these already decimated
populations should be taxed to fill the
gaps in the ranks. while so many British
subjects here were immune from the
danger of military service. II was for this
reason that the British Recruiting Mis-
sion came TO the United States.
The mission landed on june 5, 1917
the same day that 10 million young
Americans subscribed themselves for IN
duction into our own armies. Headquart-
ers, in charge OF Brigadier General y. A.
White were established in New York
City, and shortly afterward branch re-
cruitng missions were established in
every American city Of 10000 or more
population Eighty officers and nom
commissioned officers accompanied the
mission.
All Of these men had seen service IN
the bloody engagements of the western
front; all of them had been incapaeitated
by wounds, for active duty; all OF them had
Il first hand acquaintance with the hu-
man side of the war business, and each Of
them had his store of anecdOte Of hard
ship, heroism or brutality, so potent IN
any modern recruiting campaign. The
officers made extended tours Of all dis
tricts In the country where there were
known to be more than half dozen
British aliens Artists were engaged to
make recruiting posters, the aid Of British
American, Scotch-Amer1can and Welsh
American societies was enlisted, and an
immense quantity Of literature prepared
and distributed.
RESPONSES PLEASANT SURPRISE.
Response to the recruiting campaign
was surprisingly quick and pleasing. Dur
ing the first few weeks the larger missions
like those Of New York and Philadel-
phia recruited as many as two score
daily, and as the campaign took wider
scope, these numbers increased. But 1t
soon became evident TO officers OF the mis-
sion that the soil In which they tried hard
est to plant their appeals was not fertile
one Hundreds of veterans of the Boer
Wars presented themselves on a chance
that the medical officers might overlook
the handlcaps of age. Similarly great
numbers OF discharged Canadians and
Englishmen made application for read
mission, claiming that the wounds re-
sulting in their discharges had been heal
cd 1t was those native Rritons who from
the first had viewed the war with distrIst
or indifference that were hard TO arouse.
But as the campaign grew, some OF them
were forthcoming
For time some difficulty WAS encount-
cred with American draft boards, many
of which refused TO issue releases to Brit
ish aliens who wished 10 Join the English
armies, although they had been instruct
ed from Washington to do so. Provost
Marshal General Crowder finally elImInat-
ed this difficulty by directing that no
more registrants of English or Canadian
birth were 10 be inducted into the United
States Army until after the expiration of
the draft convention.
Many Americans OF an adventurous
turn applied at the recruiting stations,
lured by the prospect of getting TO the
front more quickly than with the United
States forces. At first these men were vel
coined and accepted but as the plans for
our army were enlarged and developed II
was seen that America would need all of
her own soldier material. So for some
months past, the mission has been dis
couraging the applications of Americans,
and no American is accepted for service
with lie DIttlSu Of Y aIltQlatR uOtll
he has been physically or otherwise dis
qualified for service with his own.
ATTRACTIVE OPPORTUNITIES.
The opportunities offered to potential
soldiers of the British. armies are attract
i've ones. The applicant is allowed to select
his own branch of service infantry,
cavalry, artillery or engineers and in
most cases he is even allowed to chose his
regiment, provided he measures up 10 its
recruiting standards With few ex-
ceptions all of the English and Canadian
regiments are open to him, Scotchmen are
privileged TO Join the Caledonians or the
Black Watch, British subjects of Irish
birth may At request be assigned 10 the
Irish Guards, the Dublin Fusileers, the
Connaught Rangers or other celebrated
Gaelic fighting units. The pay of the /
Canadian is 81 10 day The English. |
Scotch and Irish soldiers receive somewhat |
less.
Directly after enlistment, recruits are
sent to a concentration camp In Canada /
for a period of intensive training. There |
are five OF these camps: Camp Saint John /
for engineers at Quebec, Rock Cliff Camp
AT OTTAWA, and Camp Nalcartier, Quebec.
for infantry, camp for cavalry at Mon
treal and artillery at Pettawawa, Ottawa.
This training period lasts but short time
and the soldiers are sent overseas and
to the regiments of their selec-
ton.
Usually the recruit is at the front in less
II