ADVERTISING THE ARMY.

WE offer our sincerest congratulations to the Secretary of State for War, the Army Council, and the War Office generally upon their success in the first stages of the campaign of advertising they have undertaken with a view to obtaining a larger supply of recruits. When we wrote our leading article at the beginning of last October urging the Government to do what any large commercial undertaking would do if it wanted more " hands " and could not get them by the ordinary methods, i.e., enter upon an advertising campaign, and declared that a beginning should be made in the great dailies and in the provincial weeklies, we little thought that the Department would so soon respond to our suggestion—a suggestion in regard to which we claim, of course, no sort of patent, for no doubt it had occurred before to numberless people. Fortunately, however, wo have at the present moment a Secretary of State for War who is not only receptive of ideas himself, but who is able—a much rarer quality—to inspire with those ideas his staff and office and all those who work under him.

It will be said, perhaps, that the War Office has not yet got its men. It has, however, by a comparatively small expenditure of money, already put fifty thousand copies of its excellent little pamphlet, The Army and What it Olen, into the hands of the general public, and will doubtless, before the effect of the advertisement is ex- hausted, have raised the number to seventy or eighty thousand. This means, from the advertiser's point of view, that the pond has been thoroughly " ground- baited," or, to vary the metaphor, that an atmosphere has been created favourable to the direct appeal to men to avail themselves of the advantages offered by the Army and to join it at once. The success of the scheme, in fact, now depends upon whether the Army Council and those who are advising them make the best possible use of the ground-baiting, and crown the work by obtaining, as we are perfectly sure they can if the thing is properly done, the ten or fifteen thousand extra recruits needed by the Army. The advertisement put forward in order to obtain circulation for the pamphlet was for the immediate purpose very effective. It was well drawn up and well displayed. Our only regret is that it was not set out in the columns of the " local " papers throughout the United Kingdom, where it might have been placed very cheaply and where its effect must have been very great. Statesmen and officials see the great London popular dailies (as no doubt do also a good many members of the class from which soldiers come), but we must never forget that for the mass of men from whom recruits are drawn "the newspaper" means, not what we mean, but the Loamshire Gazette or the _Mulford Herald—and nothing else.

At any rate, the next step in advertising must be some- thing very different. It must be a direct appeal, in which the man who has read the pamphlet or has heard about it, and who is in a position to join the Army, shall be definitely asked to fill up a coupon saying he wishes to join, or that he would like a recruiting agent to call upon him and explain to him the advantages of the Army in person, and if the explanation is satisfactory, relieve him of the trouble of filling in any more papers by settling the business then and there. Now for such a direct appeal it seems to us that the War Office must be prepared to adopt a much more homely, plain-spoken, and less dignified style than that which it used in its recent booklet advertise- ment. If the plan of advertising for recruits is to be employed, then the legitimate arts of the advertiser must be frankly relied on, and there must be no attempt on the part of the War Office to stand upon its dignity. Need- less to say, it must be most careful that there shall be not only no lies in its advertisements, but no exaggerations and no appeals of an unfair or illusory description. Every- thing must be aboveboard, and there must be nothing which the most suspicious man could possibly regard as false pretences. The appeal, however, must be optimistic, enthusiastic, and persuasive, for no advertisement with- out these qualities is worth its salt. The "take-it-or- leave-it" type of statement is useless. Those who consider anything else below the dignity of a Department of State must abandon the method of direct appeal to the class from which the private soldier is drawn. Greatly daring, we have tried our hands at what we con- sider would be the sort of advertisement to appeal to

the ordinary young man of the working class. We do not expect to induce him to join the Army straight away, but we want to attract him to a consideration of the facts. That is all we want the advertisement to accomplish. The thing to be sold, as it were, is good enough on its merits. The problem we have got to meet is, not that there is an unattractive thing to sell, but that it is very difficult to get the ordinary man to attend to the assertion that he

will find the thing to his taste if he will only consider it. In other words, there is a prejudice against the Army which shuts men's ears to its advantages, and this prejudice must be got over by a properly considered appeal.

In our opinion, the appeal should run something in this way :— WHAT IS A YOUNG MAN'S DUTY? TO MAKE THE BEST OF HIMSELF. When, then, a lad is getting near his 18th birthday it is HIGH TIME for him to think of his FUTURE CAREER.

How is he going to earn his Living ? That is the question be must put to himself. Have you put it to YOURSELF? If not, do it at once.

When you are considering your Future you ought to CONSIDER THE ARMY and the Chances it offers you.

No sensible young fellow, however keen on doing a bit of soldiering, will of course join the Regulars if—

(1) He has a nice well-paid family business waiting for him to step into ; or if

(2) He has learned a skilled trade, likes it, and can look forward to earning 30s. a -week at it.

Unfortunately, however, a great number of young men who .re 18 or close on it have no such prospects.

They are most of them at that age earning, say, 15s. a week or lees, and with no prospect of getting more than 25s. a week in the towns, or 20s. in the country, even if they are very lucky.

Lads placed like that would be MAD NOT TO CONSIDER THE ARMY AND ITS CHANCES.

THINK IT OUT.

You have 15s. a week.

Say you live at home and pay for board and lodging 10s. 8d. a week.

You pay out 4d. for National Insurance. You can't put your clothes and boots at less than £3 a year or ls. 2d. a week.

That means 12s. a week out of your 15a, or 3s. a week left over as Free Money.

NOW LOOK AT THE ARMY AND CONSIDER WHAT YOU WOULD HAVE THERE.

Even at the beginning you can count on Is. a day Free Money. You really get la 9d. a day, but you have to pay lid. out for Insurance each week.

After the first two years you would at the worst be putting 10s. 6d. a week into your pocket, and very likely 12% 3d., and

All Found and Well Found.

But that means ls. 6d. a day at the worst, or over three and a half times as much per week Free Money as you would have in ordinary Civil Life.

That's all very well," you'll say. "But how about prospects ? How about finding work when I come out of the Army ? How about walking the streets, starving, looking fora job? How about knowing no trade and having nowhere to go to for a job ? How about that?"

You are quite right to think about all that.

You'd be a Fool ten times over if you didn't.

But are you guile sure that you'll always keep your job as a Civilian, and not be out of work six years hence--even jf you don't join the Army ?

People often talk as if no one was ever out of work except an old Soldier.

BUT IT ISN'T SO.

Remember, too, that the old Soldier, as long as ho is in the Army Reserve—that is, for six years after he leaves the Colours— has 3s. 8d. a week, and where is the ontof-work ordinary labourer who has got that ?

The Army won't make a silk purse out of a sow's ears or a Wise man out of a Fool.

But all the same, if a man likes to save while he's with the Colours be can.

He can Live Well and Amuse Himself and have his Beer

and Betsey and yet come out with £100 saved.

Plenty have done it, though they don't talk about it and you can do the some—if you like.

Besides his savings and the 3s. lich a week Reserve Pay, a man while he is with the Colours can learn plenty of useful jobs.

Of course, if while be is with the Colours he never gives a thought as to how he is going to live when he leaves Barracks, it is ten to one he'll be in a mess.

if ha lays his plans properly and looks ahead, he'll find a job fast enough.

- Of course a Slacker's a Slacker whereier you find him. But that is not the fault of the Army.

Remember that in what's said above, nothing is said about the chances of rising above the position of Private. All the some the chances are

WORTH THINKING OF.

Nothing, too, has been said as to the better-paid Branches of the Army like the Engineers, the Artillery, the Army Service Corps, the Army Medical Corps, and the Cavalry. The object is to show you not the Best that the Army can do for a man, but rather what happens to the Ordinary Man. You see here what is the position of a man who just holds his own in the Army, does not have exceptional luck. does not start in the best billete—the man, in fact, who holds in the Army the kind of place which the unskilled labourer holds in the country.

Certainly the Army need not be afraid of the Comparison.

Anyway, look into the thing for yourself.

Don't reject the idea because someone who remembers the Army thirty or forty yearn ago says it is a wretched trade and only a shilling a day, and forgets to add the other little fact "All Found and Well Found," and also forgets that the Free Money has become /s. 6d. a day.

Don't, then, trust talk and gossip about the Soldier and his Pay, but find out for YOURSELF.

You can do this by sending the Coupon given below to the Recruiter in your district or to the Central Recruiting Office.

Ask him to call on you and explain any points to you on which you are doubtful, and don't forget your own name and address on the card.

He can't make you join if you don't want to, and he won't try, but he will answer any questions you ask fairly and fully.

Don't merely let him tell you what he likes. You do some of the talking.

Why not ask him the following questions :— (1) What sort of Food does the Soldier have for (a Early Breakfast ?

(b Second Breakfast 1 (c Dinner? .

(d Tea ? (You may be one of those who don't care what they eat.

Still, it's worth knowing.) . (2) What is the sort of Accommodation you would get in el good modern Barracks at home, and also in India ?

(3) What does a free Kit consist of?

(4) What are the chances of Rising and other Prizes in the Army open to a man who does fairly well? (5) What Holidays and Leave does the Soldier get and what ie his Pay while he is taking them?

(8) How is he treated if he gets ill and has to go to Hospital ?

Ask him, too, whether the old stories as to men being bullied and knocked about when they first join are true of the modern Army and see what reply he gives. A man should satisfy himself on such points before he joins.

ONCE MORE Don't choose a Trade or Calling or Profession till you have

CONSIDERED THE ARMY

and compared your earnings and prospects there with the earn• ings and prospects you are likely to have in civil life,

Then make up your mind and elicit to it. • • Cut out this Coupon; there is no need to stamp it, but mark the envelope " and address to t

Recruiter (Address of Recruiter in district in which the paper circulates, or else address of Central Recruiting Office, or both).

COUPON.

Please send me particulars as to the Army and arrange to give me a call later.

Applicant's Full Name Postal Address •

No doubt our very rough sketch of an advertisement is open to a great deal of criticism, and we shall be perfectly prepared to receive it. For example, we feel suit that it will be said to be wholly wanting in dignity. Purists will say of it, as was said of " Lycidas"—"Easy, vulgar, and therefore disgusting." It is also, we feel, open to the criticism that it does not in many instances say as much as might be said for the advantages of the Army. Such omissions, however, are due to want of space, and in order that something may be left to the recruiter to tell when he interviews the balancing enlister. The present writer is prepared to be admonished with special severity for the homely way in which lie has dwelt upon the good feeding in the Army. May be be allowed to quote a per- sonal experience in defence of this insistence? Some years ago he asked the captain of a P. k 0. liner to what he attributed the fact that the company found it so extraordinarily easy to fill the posts of cabin and dining-room stewards on their ships. The captain in question, a man of great ability and experience, declared that it was not the pay or the tips, neither of which were really very large, which attracted the men. What did attract them was the fact that they got on board " an unlimited amount of highly succulent food." That is a fact worth remembering and considering. Young men who have not yet stopped growing are unquestionably attracted by good food and plenty of it. Not to make use of this knowledge would, in our opinion, be the height of foolish- ness. If young men realized how well the soldier is treated in the matter of food, the scales would, we are sure, in many cases incline at once to the military side. With so much of explanation and apology we leave our direct appeal to the balancing youth to the judgment of our readers and to the experts in the highly skilled and most fascinating profession of—advertisement writing.