The Voluntary system of enlisting is now undergoing its final test under Lord Derby’s scheme, and within the next two or three weeks we shall know whether the fighting spirit of the nation is equal to the demands made upon it.
There are those who believe it will, and that we shall emerge triumphant from the war without having recourse to compulsion. That there has been a great improvement in recruiting during the last few days is an evidence of the stimulating effect Lord Derby’s letter has had upon many young men, who now see that they can no longer hold back in face of the great national danger, without becoming to themselves a source of perpetual shame.
No doubt some of them have had good reasons for putting off taking the final step. Some, we know, have failed to realise the seriousness of the situation, owing to the over-secretiveness of the Government as to what is really happening, but there are others over whom the fear of being branded as cowards has at last prevailed.
In the Amman Valley and adjoining districts there is a good deal of misapprehension as to the position of the collier, and quite a number of people think it disgraceful that young men should be hanging about the streets in the afternoons and evenings – it is forgotten that they have been at work all the previous night – when older men of other trades have gone into the Army.
It is argued that only steam coal and not the anthracite is wanted for the purposes of the war, but enquiry reveals the many uses to which the stone coal is put in connection with war munitions, and there must be something in it, or Germany would not have taken so much of this coal, and made such desperate efforts to obtain control of some of our most important mines.
But while there is need for the collier to remain at his work, it is not pleasant to see others who have not been brought up to that trade, giving up other occupations to rush to the mines in order to escape the pressing attentions of the Recruiting Committee.
Such action is a clear case of cowardice, and anyone guilty of it must have a very hardened conscience.
This is a matter in which the Federation Committees might take a hand, by discouraging any person whom they suspect of coming to work at the collieries from that motive. That the Government is desirous of giving fair-play to all who have a legitimate excuse for not joining, either by reason of being engaged on essential employment, or that he is indispensable to his employer, is proved by the setting up of local tribunals to which any such men can appeal.
They have further opportunity if the verdict of the committee goes against them of appealing to a higher tribunal. We must undoubtedly have some men to remain at home, for women and elderly men cannot undertake all the work, but certainly a very considerable number of eligible men can be replaced by women in agriculture, local transport, and even in coal mining.
One branch of social life could easily spare a few able bodied men, and it is surprising to find the Archbishop of Canterbury, and the Bishop of St. David’s following his example, stating they are unable to give permission to any clergyman to enlist in the combatant forces.
If this is the Righteous War they have told us it is, then they ought to encourage their young men to join. There are many fine healthy and robust young men in the Churches, who could do much better work among our soldiers – not as chaplains, but as comrades – than they can possibly accomplish dawdling about drawing rooms and mothers’ meetings, and to their credit some ministers of the Gospel have felt this, and have put on the khaki.
All honour to them, and as for those who hold back – let them be put among the women, the place to which they belong. One phase of Lord Derby’s scheme which is most satisfactory is the classification, and the intimation that groups will be called up in their order – the younger unmarried men before the older, and all unmarried men before any of the married men.
It is quite certain that a number of young men, foreseeing this, have made “haste to the wedding,” as witness the notice board in the Registry Office, but Lord Derby has circumvented their manoeuvre by stating that “Any man who has married since the date of registration will be placed in a group as if unmarried.”
The last word has been spoken, and “unless the young unmarried men come forward the voluntary system will not have succeeded, and other methods will have to be adopted.”
It is up to the young men to shew their spirit and prove that compulsion is unnecessary.
