GERMANY'S SUPPLY OF FIGHTING MEN.
[To TAR EDITOR 011 TIlW ""SPECTATOR.""] SIR,—I see in the Spectator of September 11th Mr. Horsfall's letter in answer to mine of the previous week. If he looks at my letter again, I think he will find that I neither assert nor imply that the German Government would be unable to employ the 46 per cent. of the youths who had attained the age of nineteen that were declared unfit for military training ; only that, being unfit, they could not be reckoned in the fighting army. The medical nature of the unfitness which incapacitated youths of nineteen from beginning their train- ing till some years had elapsed would have to be considered. If at that age a young man is so deficient in health or stamina that he cannot begin his military training, his ever being able to undergo it would seem problematical. The query as to the medical nature of the incapacity under which the 25.1 per cent. who are placed on the list for service in the Landsturna or Landwehr, because unfit to be trained for the Regular Army, would have to be put more emphatically. At all events, the 15.1 per cent. of the ""going-to-be-fit" and the 251 per cent. "less-fit," if used in the fighting line, will be to some extent inefficient soldiers, and so would add numbers without really increasing the strength of the force to which they were joined. Hence, if we would calculate Germany's reserves of fighting force, these elements must be taken into account.—
I am, Sir, &c., J. E. H. THOMSON. 170 Mayfield _Road, Edinburgh.
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