We trust that the Standard will not think us ungrateful
in regard to the admirable work it is doing on the Volunteer question if we venture to protest against its statement that "the sole reason for their existence as a military force lies in their readiness to resist an invader at a moment's notice." That may be one reason for their existence. It is certainly not the sole reason. The essential reason for the existence of the Volunteers is to train the civilian manhood of the nation to arms, and thus to provide a reservoir of trained men which can be drawn upon at any great national emergency. In support of our contention, we can urge that the Volunteers have already provided such a reservoir, and can point to the answer made by the Volunteers to the call to arms in 1899 and 1900. The Volunteers sent some thirty thousand men to the front, and, as our correspondent "Volunteer Field Officer" has shown, offered to send at least sixty thousand. Mr. Arnold-Forster has called this a "meagre" response, and apparently considers that the reservoir view of the Volunteers may be disregarded altogether when the future of the force is considered.
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