THE NATIONAL SERVICE LEAGUE AND UNIVERSAL TRAINING.
[To THE EDITOR OF THE "SPECTATOR."]
SIR,—If you will look at the National Service League's bill and memorandum you will find that your footnote to my letter is wrong. Amongst the several exemptions from training which you omit is the following, " Any person declared by the Army Council to be exempt as being a person whom it is desirable to exempt in the interests of the public service." Obviously it is in the interests of the military service not to spend money on more men than are required, and this can be done by adjusting the physical standard. At any rate, the League's estimate is that out of 416,000 reaching the age of eighteen annually, 43,000 will he exempted for recruits for the Army and Navy, and 225,000 for other reasons, leaving 148,000 to be trained. This surely seems to me not in accord with your description "universal [We cannot agree. In Switzerland a great many men are refused because the physical standard is put very high, but yet no one challenges the fact that the obligation to serve is universal. For ourselves we may say that we shall always be in favour of not putting the physical standard too high. We want as many men as possible to enjoy the advantages of military training and service on the Swiss models—Ere Spectator.]
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