Before we leave the subject of Mr. Asquith's statement we
should like to put on record our belief that of all the minor means of help held out by the Government, the best of all is the offer to those under thirty—and that means something like half the unemployed—to join the Special Reserve. The young unemployed man by accepting this offer will not merely tide himself over the next six months. What is even more important, he will be able to recruit his physical vigour and improve himself morally and intellectually. The six months' training will be to him a school, not merely of the body, but a place .where he may obtain education in many other ways. Whatever work he may try to take up after his six months' training is over, he will be very much more worthy of hire than he was before. When we say this we are not indulging in any flight of the imagination, but speaking from our experience of the Spectator Experimental Company. We do nothesitate to say that the young men who joined that Company were at the end of their six months' training (a training in all essentials similar to that of the Special Reserve) far better equipped to fight the battle of life than they were when they joined the Company. We sincerely trust that Distress Committees, and all persons who are dealing at close quarters with the unemployed, will urge those who are of a fit age, of sufficient physique, and also of sufficiently good character, to join the Special Reserve.
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