THE RECRUITING PROBLEM.*
WE desire to call the special attention of our readers to this excellent pamphlet. The little book, in spite of its un- assuming form and title, goes in reality to the very bedrock of our military system, for it deals with the man who carries the rifle, that personal sine qui& non of every army. "No soldier, no army," is a proposition which no one can deny. Therefore the problem of how to get the soldier is the first essential in a system like ours. Major Haggard treats in a most practical, sensible, and unsentimental way the means of attracting men to the Army. He begins by insisting upon the unbusinesslike manner in which we at present manage our recruiting. " He who desires to secure custom does it by advertising in the most attractive way possible. That is only business—and recruiting is a. State business." Yet, in spite of this obvious proposition, we place our recruiting offices in back streets as if we were ashamed of them. Further, we make them as unattractive as possible, and generally, instead of making the gate to the Army an attractive portal, worthy of a high and honourable calling, we set up in a back street a low, ugly little wooden door, decorated in the dingiest colours, and with the paint half knocked off. Next, instead of making barrack life attractive to the soldier, we do our best to make it unattractive. Partly from fear of spending money upon what, after all, is fur more of an essential than many of the things on which we spend our money, we render our barracks dingy, dreary, and disagreeable. And not only do we make • The Social Status of the Soldier in Connection with Recruiting. By Major Arthur Haggard, Secretary of the Union Jack Club. London : ailed Sec uico Gazette Offices, 44 and 41 Temple Chambers, E.C.
our barracks unpleasing, but we connect life in barracks with the performance of every kind of tiresome, and sometimes disgusting, duty. A large number of men of the soldier class are now accustomed to all sorts of little ornaments and refinements in their homes, but these we sedulously banish from the barracks. As Major Haggard says,—
"If a man wants a strip of carpet or oilcloth by his bed, why should he not have it so long as he keeps it clean? If his bed happens to be near a window, and he has a taste for flowers, why should he not grow them? Why should every little thing which tends to remind him of some home fancy, or awakes some pleasant recollection, be swept away as destroying the uniformity of the appearance of the barrack-room ? Why, indeed, should the men not be encouraged to hang pictures on the wall, to do all they can to brighten the appearance of the place in which they have to live, instead of keeping it as much as possible like a prison? "
In our opinion, as our readers know, every man in barracks
should have a bedroom, however small, to himself, such as he can obtain in a Rowton House. As Lord Rowton used to say, the essentials of a bedroom are a window, a bed, a chair by the bed, a shelf and pegs upon which to put your belongings, and a place where you can lock up your most cherished possessions.
We have not space to deal with Major Haggard's moat sound and useful remarks in regard to separate dining-rooms, sanitary arrangements, and the proper arrangements for
comfort in the guard-room. We must, however, find space to endorse most heartily all that he says as to the ridiculous plan by which drunkenness is encouraged in the name of temperance in the canteen system of an ordinary regiment. Most useful is Major Haggard's chapter on discipline. All sane men must admit that discipline in the true sense cannot be too strictly enforced in an army, and that nothing should be allowed to excuse a soldier for disobedience in the discharge of his military duties. Unfortunately, however, military discipline in the minds of many people is connected with the maintenance of pedantic rules and regulations which have
nothing to do with real military efficiency, but rather detract from it. The ideal should be that a soldier should receive as few orders as possible, but that whatever orders he does receive must be carried out with implicit obedience. Un- necessary orders and the exaction of obedience to them are an injury to military efficiency. In connexion with this Major Haggard makes some very sound remarks as to the need for training young officers and non-commissioned officers in the work of handling men. We are also in full agreement with what Major Haggard has to say as to military restraint outside barracks. In our opinion, that restraint should be very strictly limited. We would allow all men when off duty to wear civilian clothes as a matter of right, and we would as far as possible adopt the principle that a soldier when he is not on military duty must regulate his life for himself and be responsible to himself alone for its proper conduct. While doing military duty he should be answerable to his military officers in the strictest sense, and liable to the severest punish.
ment for breaches of discipline, but when not on duty the soldier as far as possible should be his own master. We may perhaps point out, in regard to the question of wearing civilian clothes, that Colonel Pollock's liberal policy in this matter has, in the case of the Spectator Experimental Company, had the happiest results. Curiously enough, how-
ever, we understand that the facilities for wearing ordinary civilian clothes offered to the men have to a great extent taken away the desire to put off their uniform.
We must end our notice of a most suggestive and useful little book by referring to the question of "future prospects" therein discussed, and by a reference to the concluding chapter. This chapter contains the following very significant sentence:—
" Again, let us take the position of a policeman. His work is arduous, his hours long, and the discipline he has to submit to very strict. For comparatively small offences he may be mulct of his pay or reduced in rank, and for any neglect of duty is liable to dismissal, and, in addition, he may be punished as a civilian.. Yet it is a known fact that there are far more applicants for all branches of the police throughout the United Kingdom than can be enrolled ; only the very best are taken."
It is in the proper comprehension of this fact (which is admirably worked out by Major Haggard), and in its application, that the solution of the recruiting problem is to be found. We recommend our readers to buy his pamphlet for themselves. and to study this portion of it with special attention. .
Previous page
