A SURPRISING STATEMENT

Dominion, Volume 9, Issue 2639, 9 December 1915, Page 4

A SURPRISING STATEMENT

A statement made yesterday by the Minister of Defence regarding tho National Register and recruiting would seem- to discloso a quite remarkable attitude on the part of the Government towards the men of military age whose names appear under the different classifications on tho Register. If we are to judge from Mr. Allen's announcement, tne single shirkers are to be allowed to shirk_ without protest, while the married men with families who have, signified'their willingness to servo "if required" are to be sent out to fight their battles. That is putting tho matter bluntly. The Minister clothes tho facts more pleasantly. He explains that the process will be to first call up the singlo men without dependents who have expressed their readiness to serve; then presumably the singlo men with dependents and tho married men with wives but no families; then the married men with families. This is all very well so far as it gopfs; but dwR it weu,» tfmt tho Government pretends to regard the Na-- j

tional Register as a recruiting machine, and that every person who has expressed a willingness to enlist "if required" can be called on for scrvice when it pleases the Defence authorities to do so.. If- any Buch viiW is hold by Ministers it would be as well for them to it out of their heads. The questions submitted to men of military age were as follow: —

If you havo not volunteered for sor rice—

(i) Are you (being a singlo man without dependents) willing to becoiuo a member of an Expeditionary Force?

(ii) Are you (being a single man with dependents, or a married man or a widower with dependents) willing to become a member of an Expeditionary Force, if required?

It will be noted that the question put to single men is not the same as that put to married men. The single man was asked straight out whether he was willing to enlist; the married man was asked' if he was willing to enlist if-required. This distinction was made with a deliberate object. Its purpose was to give the marripd man with family responsibilities assurance that hp would be called on only as a last resort. There can bo no .doubt on that point. The matter was fully threshed out when the Bill was bofore Parliament. Thousands of married .men, fettered by family bui dens, have no doubt answered the question in the affirmative in the belief that they would not be expected te serve while single men or men without families wfere available m the country. Does the Minister mean to suggest that the Government proposes to call these men away from their homes while the country is full of single men'i And is it that the single men at present unwilling to enlist would be so lacking m manhood that when the position is fairly, placed before them they would still hang back and allow the wives and little children to bear the brunt of straitened conditions while the father and breadwinner went off to the war 1 We cannot believe it. The Government's attitude towards recruiting has been entirely wrong. It has never seriously attempted to systematically ■ canvass the country for recruits, ouch efforts as it has made have been haphazard and spasmodic, and it has been mainly due to the splendid spirit of the young men of the Dominion that the results to date have bfeen so satisfactory. Everv credit is duo to Dr. M'Nab for the campaign he is at present carryingon, and the efforts of the War League nave been wholly commendable. But the Government, as-a Government, has been an uninspiring Becruiting Agent; and now would seem about to commit an act of folly by treatmg_the National Register not as a statistical record of the man power available and a guide to the spirit of the nation, but as a record of enlistments and refusals. Tho Na-' tional Register is a confidential .record, . and must be treated as such, by Ministere. It can be turned to useful account in various ways, and especially in enabling tho Government to form_ more accurate ideas than was possible before of tho number, of men remaining in the country, their present employment,' conditions of life, and their; attitude towards tho question of serving their country in the military forces or in civil employment. But the Government will get on to very dangerous ground if it is not careful to avoid any. course which may be interpreted as suggesting that it the Register as a record of recruiting; and it will, be equally well advised to avoid such statements as that credited to Me. Allen, which would seem to imply that those on the Register who have affirmed their willingness; to serve are the first to be called on in order of classification,. even though more than half of the number are married men. This is likely to have a harmful effect on reoruiting work generally by creating the impression that more men are available than is actually the case, and is certain to be regarded by a.substantial proportion of the 59,000 married men who have signified their willingness to serve "if required" aa a deliberate breach of faith.