The Army and the Unemployed The discussions which are understood
to be taking place between the Service Departments and the Ministry of Labour on the relation between Employment Exchanges and recruiting raise a question of some delicacy. It is a singular fact that at a time when the numbers of the unemployed stand at some 1,800,000 it should be impossible to get an army of 190,000 up to strength, and it is entirely proper that when Employment Exchange officials are telling applicants of any jobs available they should remind them of the fact that there are openings in the army. But if it is proper for them to go so far it is improper that they should go further. Employment Exchanges must not be turned into recruiting-stations, nor must there be even a hint of a suggestion that if a man prefers to disregard an opening in the army it will tell against him in any kind of way. Mr. Baldwin has undertaken that there shall be no conscription in this country in peace-time, and that must be interpreted as meaning that there shall not be ground for the least suspicion even of indirect compulsion.
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