And here we may say that, in our opinion, the ,
Prime Minister and his colleagues on the War Committee of the Cabinet ot.ght to make at once, and while the can- vassers are still at work, a short and telling appeal to the unmarried men to carry the voluntary system through. They should further point out that the men to whom it will be necessary to apply compulsion are certain to regret. to the end of their lives the fact that they had to be fetched and did not come voluntarily. Considering how well the country has hitherto done under the voluntary system, the compelled men will be a comparatively small minority and a minority of marked men. That may be unjust, but in these matters the world is seldom kind-hearted. If the Government will only make an appeal, and if the appeal is kept standing in the Press, as was His Majesty's letter, the effect must be very great. What we are afraid of is the tendency of young and irresponsible men to let things drift. It is only fair to make them fully understand how unpleasant the consequences of drifting are likely to be to themselves.
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