AN UNEQUAL BURDEN.
[To THE EDITOR Or THE " SPECTATOR."1 Sin,—The burden of our voluntary system for home defence is no doubt a light one for the nation regarded as a whole; but nevertheless it falls with unjust inequality upon indi- vidual citizens,—Territorial soldiers and their employers.
My own case may serve as an illustration. I am a profes- sional man in practice in a busy provincial city. My pro- fessional office staff—i.e., excluding cashier, typists, and telephone and office boys—consists of two younger members of the profession, two managers, and two assistants. Of these six no less than five are serving in various branches of the Territorial Force, and are therefore required to undergo fifteen days' training in camp annually. Now under the system of voluntary service it is found necessary to hold the camps of all corps in this district at one particular time in order to take advantage of a few days of partial holiday which are observed in the local race week. It follows that I find myself left for a fortnight, during the greater part of which the work of my office must be conducted without relaxation, with the service of only one out of the six responsible members of my staff. Fortunately I am able to alleviate matters somewhat by borrowing some help from my firm's office in a neighbouring town, but even with this I am of course caused very serious inconvenience, and am placed at a great disadvantage com- pared with my competitors over the way, who, loudly patriotic at election times, contrive somehow to eliminate patriotic considerations when business is concerned.
My case is perhaps an extreme one, attributable possibly to my being known as a member of the Territorial Force Association for the county, and a consistent supporter of the force, a circumstance calculated to encourage patriotic service among one's subordinates, and at the same time to preclude one from vetoing or curtailing their attendance at camp. But there are no doubt innumerable cases of similar hardship, though varying in degree. Indeed it seems to me that a fair incidence of the national burden cannot be hoped for under a system which, while insisting on the maintenance of a prescribed establishment of Territorial troops and on their being trained in camp for fifteen days annually as the absolute minimum of numbers and training necessary for the safety of the country, yet leaves the raising of the men and the sending of them to camp entirely to the option of the individuals concerned, the men and their employers. The result of such an illogical procedure must be—as it now in fact is—to strain the willingness of the willing in many cases to breaking-point, while the shirkers go scot-free. For the like cause the force has to put up with insufficient numbers of physically fit recruits and a hopelessly inadequate amount of training. Let us hope, therefore, that Mr. Haldane may con- tinue his clear thinking, which has produced the admirable organisation of the Territorial Force, for one stage further, and may thus come to see, as the force itself (so my inquiries clearly indicate) already sees, that only by the legal imposition of this national burden on all citizens capable of bearing it can it be rendered a just burden, and result in a force efficient criticism is to be found in universal training and service,—. i.e., the adoption of the policy of the National Service League.—En. Spectator.]
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