The British Committee who are inquiring into the Swiss military
system—a Committee arranged for by the National Service League—have during the past week been very active. On Wednesday they were present at the close of the "grand manoeuvres " in which forty-four thousand Militia were engaged. The Labour Members, according to the special correspondent of the Times, are much interested in the popularity of the Swiss system, which, though compulsory, is not irksome, and gives such remarkable results from the military point of view. It would, of course, be premature to make any attempt to. forecast the effect of what they have seen upon the minds of the Labour Members, but we may at any rate feel sure that they will not in future listen to the assertion that every system of compulsory training is inevitably injurious and must conduce to militarism. No doubt an observer may convince himself of this fact without concluding that compulsory training would be of advantage to Britain ; but at any rate he has advanced a good way towards understanding that what the National Service League advocates is not conscription, or anything resembling it.
Previous page
