The annual Report on Recruiting in 1900 shows that while
the total number of recruits enlisted (including Imperial Yeomanry, Royal Reservists, and recruits enlisted for one year) stands at 98,361, as against 42,700 in 1899, there was actually a slight decrease, in spite of the reduction of the standard of height and the impetus given by the war, in the ordinary recruits enlisted for the infantry. In conclusion, the Report states that the problem " still remains how to obtain in time of peace a sufficient number of recruits for the maintenance of the increased establishment of the Regular Army." The means whereby the difficulty may be surmounted were indicated by Lord Roberts in an article written seventeen years ago, when he said that we had got to make the contract between the State and the soldier advantageous to the State and satisfactory to the servant. Captain Lee, M.P., formerly Military Attache at Washington, in a most interesting letter to the Times, recently advocated the American plan as the best for securing this end. Briefly, their system is to get recruits by open competition in the labour market, and to offer a graduated advance in the rate of pay, with no stoppages. Captain Lee advocates a very considerable increase in pay, and if necessary we must of course make it, but first we should like to see the effect of a clear shilling a day without any stoppages and "all found and well found." We note with great interest that the very heavy desertions are attributed to the overcrowding of the barracks and the consequent discomforts. And yet we are told that the intro- duction of the cubicle system would have no attractive force
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