The DOMINION. THURSDAY, JANUARY 17, 1918. THE SPRINT TO VICTORY

Dominion, Volume 11, Issue 97, 17 January 1918, Page 4

The DOMINION. THURSDAY, JANUARY 17, 1918. THE SPRINT TO VICTORY

With the war well into its fourth year the British nation is being called upon to throw all its resources into a maximum effort for victory. That in a word is what is involved in the man-power ■ proposals just outlined by Sir Auckland Geddes, British Director-Gen-eral of National Service. The brief cablegrams as yet transmitted leave many details of the proposals undisclosed, but in preparing the ground for the definite programme now laid down, Sir Auckland Geddes took the public into his confidence in regard to what his Department and tho Government had in view. One fact which stands out very clearly is that the British Government aims at much more than merely making good what the Allies have lost as a result of tho .Russian collapse and tho defeat inflicted upon Italy in October. Presenting his Bill to the Houso of Commons, the Direc-tor-General of National Service told that assembly that the successful solution of the man-power problem meant certain victory. This is qualified to some extent by the further observation that until America's weight begins to tell decisively the role of the Anglo-French armies in the Western theatre will be defensive, but it may not be very long before America's weight begins to tell decisively., What Sin Auckland Geddes intended to convey will perhaps best be realised by a reference to his earlier speeches, of which full reports have been received by mail. In mid-Noyomber, at a time when tho demoralisation of Russia was fully apparent, and the situation of the Italians on the Piave line was regarded as exceedingly precarious, he told a British audience :

In this war we have, I think, cutered tne straight; the time has come for us to pull ourselves together for the sprint to victory. You ask. "Hon long is this last effort to endure?" Ido not know. I do not imagine that it will bo a dny less than one year; it may well be more. When I eay that, people say to me, "But tou do not call that tho final sprint?" Yes, I do. Tne effort of tho autumn of 191-i in raising mon and making guns was not made "manifest in tho field until the autumn of 1015. Things happen a little more rapidly in Uipso days, hut the greatest'effort we at home can make now will not materially affect things oversea until midsummer, 1918, and so, because I believe that we aro justified in acting us if tnere were an outside chance of finishing things Into next year or perhaps early in 1919, I cay that now ie the time for effort, and I want to eay quite plainly that to my judgment it is physically impossible for the war to end next year unless our effort tnis autumn, this wintor, and next spring is unprecedented.

In a spoccli delivered a few days afterwards he declared that ib was now, this autumn, this winter, and in the coming spring that Britain must put forth her maximum effort. This defines the issue raised in the Man-Power Bill. The British nation is called upon for a supremo effort which may bring victory. If the effort is made, and _ fails to achieve its purpose, British resources and determination will not bo exhausted, but it will then rest with America, to make tho final con-

tribution to the Allied strength and create the decisive superiority which will bring victory. The figures cited by Si it. Auckland Geddes hear striking testimony to the magnificent fashion in which Britain has met tho demands of the war. It will be noticed that as the cablegram stands the total of 7,500,000 troops for the whole Empire does not tally with the detail items; but the particulars relating to the. United Kingdom arc no douUfc accurate. The position disclosed is that approximately oneeighth of the wliole population of the United Kingdom has, since the beginning of flie war, been enrolled in tho Army or Navy. The proportion of men enrolled for service in other parts of the United Kingdom than Ireland is actually somewhat higher, since in Ireland the proportion is very much below the average. At one time it was accepted as an axiom that a conscript country could not put more than onetenth of its population into tho field in time of war. Britain has substantially improved upon this standard in spite of the fact that this war has made unprecedented calls on industry, and that in her case these calls have been more onerous than those any other Allied nation has up to the present been called upon to meet. Britain's treliieudous military effort appears still more marvellous when it is considered that she has simultaneously diverted millions of workers to the manufacture of munitions, the construction of ships and the production of food, and has rendered a vast amount of financial and material assistance to her Dominions and Allies. It might be thought that with her resources already organised on such an impressive scale for war, Britain could hardly be equal to meeting the great (additional demands which are now''being framed. Sin Auckland Geddes has been able, however, to produce convincing evidence to the contrary. In his public utterances ho has shown that even now Britain is far from having completely corrected her initial errors in recruiting policy and in the apportionment of labour to industries. He contends that to recruit for the military forces on the basis of youngest men and single men first, without regard to other considerations, is unsound, and that in order to attain a national war effort of maximum onergy, and to avoid "carrying passengers," recruiting must bo carried out on a basis of occupation, some young men being retained in civil occupations and some men of maturo years, even though they hear heavy family responsibilities, being enrolled in the military forces. In his various speeches the DirectorGoneral of National Service has cited some striking examples of the operation of the methods hitherto in vogue. He mentioneel, for instance, that people were acivcrtising for hands to make metal cigarette cases in the very centres where tho authorities were trying to find men of tho same class and tho same degree of skill perhaps to work on aeroplanes. Again, in a certain town where women were wanted for work on aeroplanes, thcro were advertisements for girls to dress dolls and fix wigs "on dolls. "The whole question of man-power," the Direc-tor-General declared in one speech, "has been allowed, through lack of understanding of what war meant, to get into & perfectly tangled state. Wo have got men protected at present from recruiting who ought to be in the Army, and men in the Army who ought to bo back. It is from tho end of the freeing of labour from unnecessary things that wo must approach the sorting out of our people, because we cannot let the essential industries suddenly, run short of labour and stop." Of necessity, the demands now made for something like 450,000 additional men for the Army and an additional 430,000 men and 119,000 women for vital industries will impose a heavy strain upon tho British nation, but there is no reason to doubt that tho demands can be met if the nation is content to make further inroads on non-essentials and to concentrate undividedly upon the output of shipping, saving tonnage (which includes food production at liome), and maintenance of the armies in the field. Some indications have been given of Labour opposition to the measures proposed, on what detail grounds has yet to appear, but there is nothing meantime to show that organised Labour as a whole is hostile to the Government's proposals. Indications are to the contrary. Sik Auckland Geddes in any case has warned pacifists who are attempting to stir up strife in the munition factoriesthat they will encounter "a surprising blast of hatred and contempt." Tho best assurance that he is speaking with knowledge and authority is to bo found in contemplation _ of tho magnificent efforts the nation has already put forth. With such efforts to its credit there should bo little doubt that it will not weaken or falter under the additional burdens it is now called upon to bear.