CONSCRIPT ARMIES

Dominion, Volume 7, Issue 2263, 24 September 1914, Page 7

CONSCRIPT ARMIES

' EFFECTS OF MOBILISATION WAR "PROBLEMS I One of the gravest problems of the war as far as France and Germany aro concerned is already arising out of tho mobilisation, says ■ the London corrcs- • pondent of tho "Ago," of practically the entire male population of these two great nations. The world has had no previous experience, to guido it to indicate what a national mobilisation would be like under modern industrial, conditions, and even at this early stage of the war it looks as if the results ■ will bo drastic and far-reaching to the .nations affected,-.with an inovitablo and direct ■ application on tho duration of . the conflict. , The whole efforts of the German and French Governments are being.given to the mobilisation of their armies at the.front, and in organising tho transport of the enormous, supplies of fpod, clothing, and munitions of war necessary for their maintenance, but al T ready both nations are faced with tho greatest domestic upheavals at home, following the ■unprecedented masking of national man power for warlike purposes, 'aiid 'the consequent sudden , stoppage of human production. The question of feeding the women and children dependent on the hundreds of thousands of bread-winners who have been'called on to fight for -thoir country ilias.already arisen, and as class after 'class'of reservists go hurrying'off to the front the position becomos moro acute. In Berlin there- have already been alarming food riots, .and although the French Government is believed to hava made better arrangements to moot the position, distress is already laying a gaunt linger on the poorer classes of Paris. The gay city has . become a silent city of- mostly women- for the ' . time l being; business at a shops and offices closed, warehouses deserted, manufactures neglected; in short, a general stoppage of the machinery by which humanity existed. The sudden cessation of a nation's, business has produced some strange effects in Paris already,.and also in S*. Petersburg. In Paris society ladies aro ' bravely coming forward to reinforce the ranks of the shop assistants, hundreds , of whom have been called to tho colours. Girls are punching tickets, and on the "Metro" (the Pans tube) boys of twelve are acting as conductors. ■The stranded visitors aro finding ',t absolutely impossible to exchange English or American for French money. English sovereigns or Bank of England notes are useless, and the American dollar is, if possible, worse. It is difficult to -obtain tho simplest meal in the half jempty restaurants, most of. which aro without waiters, cooking staffs or proprietors. They are all at the tront. Provincial supplies have already btcu cut oft'; there are no trains availablo to bring them in. The great Hansiaa boulevards aro practically deserted People who want to go anywhere aro compelled to walk; nearly all tho tohides have been requisitioned for miliJtary purposes. . Anti-German and anti-Austrian feeling runs very high in Paris, and has already been responsible for the' sacking of a number of shop* and businesses owned by Germans or Austrians. v