BRITISH RECRUITS FROM AMERICA

Dominion, Volume 11, Issue 102, 23 January 1918, Page 5

BRITISH RECRUITS FROM AMERICA

. . ENGLAND IN BROADWAY. (By G. Ivy Sanders, in the "Daily Mail.'') m . New York. inere is a little piece of England in the most American of. American thoroughfares, Broadway. Recruiting sergeants wearing the khaki uniform of the British Army and the familiar red, white, and blue rosettes aro everywhere, emphasising the call of :,ho Homeland for men. There tho same poster of the laughing, blue-eyed boy in khaki with the words, "Ho's happy and satisfied—are yon?" written across it, appeals from the walls and signboards. Thero the samo trench-stained hero beckoning from the soil of Franco calls to his civilian brothers to "step across and help." And there is ths samo steady response from the Britons resident in the United States. Brigadier-General White, who is the Me and soul of British recruiting in this country, is greatly admired by Americans as being a "real live wire." Ho travels incessantly, and has done much to counteract the vile German statement that Great Britain is making France and America fight while sho keeps her Army safely at home in England. The equivalent of eight regiments has already enlisted, and without doubt that number would have been doubled but for the deplorable fact that tho British rate of pay is insufficient to allow a man with dependants living in tho United States to answer the call.

Tho average married Briton horo in America has no relatives with whom ha can leave his wife. It is beyond question impossible for a woman to live in New York on the 12s. 6d. separation allowance granted in England, which applies also to tho Briton enlisting in the United States.

"Regard a dollar (4s. 2d,) as a shilling," an English resident in New York advised mo when first I arrived here, and I have found in tho cost of living this ostimated relativo value to be a conservative one.

The minimum pre-war wage for the least competent lind of woman clens in New York was fixed at 10 dollars, or a littlo over £2. Skilled women stenographers or typists got 7 and 8 dollars each. Yet under tho existing rates of pay the wife of a Briton enlisting hern in tho British Army is expected to livo on tho same 3 dollars, or 12s. 6d.j allowance that is granted in England. Quite recently I heard a man, eager and ready to face the submarines and "do his bit" for the Old Country, complaining bitterly of his inability to do so. His present daily earnings amount to 255.; his enlistment would mean a weekly separation allowance to his wife of just half that_ amount. And so while the country is calling for men he must needs stand unwillingly aside.