NATIONAL SERVICE.
(To THE EDITOR OF TEE " SPECTATOIV] SIR,—Some of your contemporaries point out, justly enough, that we have a threefold national task ; that we have to provide not only fighting forces on sea and land, and munitions for these, but the money to pay for them. From this statement of the case they draw the seemingly logical conclusion that a large part of the manhood of the country must necessarily pursue its usual avocations in order to earn money. But the pecuniary cost of the war comes not out of earnings but from a rapidly increasing debt. From a merely economisel point of view, as early a victory as possible would be profitable. We can wait longer than the enemy ; we are not yet at bay ; but when we discuss the best means of attaining the end we all have at heart, we must not assume that it can be secured by anything short of our utmost military effort. Here is obviously a matter in which we stand in need of leading on the part of our responsible chiefs. It may be that they cannot give us a. definite lead until the information to be supplied by the National Register is in their bands. In the meanwhile, it seems a pity that any of us should assume that we shall be able to continue the present division of labour. It may be necessary to devote all our energies to the business of war, even if, like the enemy, we have to risk all our savings and earnings to secure the one thing that counts—the attainment of complete victory. Nothing short of that will give us the relief and release for which we and our allies are fighting.—I
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