courage their relations to enlist? Or is the sight of men who have served their time with the colours, and who find themselves in the plight I have just described, likely to encourage the class from whom our recruits are drawn to regard military service as a desirable thing?

Boycotted and rejected by all, the Reservist has long ago become nobody's child. Let any one who cares to take the trouble make inquiries in the haunts of these poor men, either in London or in the provinces, and he will ascertain that in every place where they congregate at all, there are numbers to be found in the greatest poverty and distress. Large numbers of them swell the population of the lowest classes in the far east of London. A fair proportion become professional vagrants, and are wont periodically to be the inmates of unions and refuges throughout the country. In some country districts they are in the habit of tramping the country, sometimes in droves, during the summer months. In winter they crowd night refuges and casual wards both in London and the provinces; while others, in many cases from no fault of their own, gradually become idlers, destitute loafers, day-to-day and handto-mouth labourers, who pick up odd jobs when and where they can, and tend, by their yearly increasing numbers, to strengthen the prejudices against the soldier's calling, to perpetuate and to stereotype more and more the hopelessly low estimation in which, by the respectable working classes, army service is held. Granted that a certain proportion of these men are worthless, and would not keep any situation they might be provided with for a week; but there are, on the other hand, very many

among them who would acquit themselves most creditably if they could get a chance. The efforts of many of these poor fellows to obtain work are oftentimes as gallant as their active service; but they are weighted with the burden of a career which, however honourable on the lips of festive speakers after dinner, disables them in their search for employment and work.

In addition to all I have here stated, there is another reason which militates more than anything else against Reserve men obtaining employment in civil life, and that is the steady and dogged refusal of any Government, whether Liberal or Conservative, to have anything to say to employing them, though occasionally languid efforts have been made to induce other people to do so. Hundreds, nay thousands, of those men might, in the course of the last ten or twelve years, if any persistent system had been instituted, and steadily and earnestly carried out, have been employed in the different departments of the State, and also by the general public throughout the kingdom.

So long as the Government continues to regard these men with indifference, and neglects or declines to take any real interest in their wellbeing, the various agencies which have been recently started with the object of giving them a good chance of obtaining employment in civil life may do something towards helping some few hundreds of them; but it would be absurd to suppose that they can ever deal effectively with the thousands who now lack employment. The habitual tone and attitude of the War Office towards Reservists cuts the ground from under the feet of these agencies, and leaves them virtually no answer with which to combat the

arguments against employing Reservists which may be addressed to them.

The foregoing, then, are the disadvantages with which Reserve men have to cope, and it must be admitted that they are grave enough. What are the advantages which the State bestows upon him in order to compensate for these drawbacks? There is only one-viz., that he receives sixpence a-day. With this pittance he is left to shift for himself as best he can. The War Office virtually says to him: "Go your way, live as best you can on sixpence a-day; as long as we can get hold of you when we want to send you out to Egypt or the Soudan, to Afghanistan or the Cape, that is all we care about." It is clear that in the great majority of cases Reservists in this position may be literally and correctly described as men on long leave with sixpence a-day to keep them from starving; and doubtless to many men thus situated, especially to those who have no settled employment, a recall to the ranks is welcome enough. Under these circumstances it can be no great matter for surprise that very many cases are reported of Army Reserve men trying to re-enlist.

Inherited traditions die very hard, especially among the lower classes, and the tradition among them that the army is a very undesirable calling for a young man, which has been handed down and cherished by them for at least a hundred years, is not by any means Idead yet, but is oftentimes, it would seem, as strong as ever. What is more, it is certainly not likely to die out as long as the condition of the great majority of Reservists tends inevitably to nourish and confirm the idea that destitution and semi-starva

tion are the most direct and obvious consequences of enlistment. If semi-pauperism and inability to earn a living during the best years of a man's life were in many cases the direct and obvious consequences of a few years' service in the lower ranks of the Post Office or in the Metropolitan Police, does any one imagine that service in these departments would be popular with the working classes? It was officially recorded some years ago that nothing tended so much to check recruiting as the sight of men who had, for some reason or another, been discharged from the service on temporary pensions of small amount. Does any one suppose that the spectacle of hundreds of men wandering all over the country in search of work, and half starving upon a pittance of sixpence a-day, has any different effect?

Under these circumstances it may fairly be asked, Has military service so strong a hold upon the affections of the working classes that the War Office can afford, by its unwise and impolitic neglect of the Reservists, to neutralise and undo with one hand what it is always striving, with a large expenditure of public money, but with very questionable success, to achieve with the other? Unpalatable as the truth may be, no one who cares to inform himself of the real state of the case can have the least doubt that that is the task in which the War Office has for the last ten years or so been virtually engaged. The task is, unfortunately for the country, the taxpayer, and the public money, a most unequal and unprofitable one, inasmuch as, while the Government recruiting agencies may be counted by tens, the semi-destitute Reserve men, who, consciously or unconsciously,

every day of their lives are a standing warning to men against enlistment, are to be counted by thousands.

Under existing circumstances, can we wonder that, in spite of all that has been done for the soldier during the last fifteen or twenty years, the army as a calling not only makes no progress, but actually recedes in popular favour, and that we draw our recruits from precisely the same, or even from lower social classes than those from which we drew them two decades ago?

That the picture that has here been drawn of the condition of large numbers of Reserve men throughout the country is in no way exaggerated there is a mass of evidence in possession of the writer to prove, but one or two extracts must here suffice.

In a work entitled 'Problems of a Great City,' published some few years ago, the author, speaking of distress in London, says :

:

"The larger portion of the remaining 20 per cent consists of soldiers. Large numbers of men who have served the Queen in recent campaigns are compelled on wet and snowy nights to tramp the streets because they have nowhere to get a crust or a shelter. Trades are not learned in the army so as to enable ex-soldiers to compete with skilled and energetic men engaged for the whole of their lifetime in the practice of one employment. Trades acquired in the services do not, except in special cases, enable the learners to obtain a subsequent livelihood. Many men leaving the army are practically homeless; and as the scanty store of money taken with them melts away, they gravitate to the banks of the Thames, and become rivals for work, which

only one in three can succeed in obtaining.

"It would be impertinent to express an opinion as to the military effect of the short-service system. The effect, however, on the condition of the lives of the poor, has been disastrous, from all points of view. A man who is fit to serve the Queen must be physically and morally superior to the vast proportion of the when discharged from his regiment. urban population into which he sinks His discharge is attended, in the majority of instances, by relapse into hopeless poverty. The number of soldiers among the unemployed is appalling. They crowd the casual wards, and are found in every employment where skill is not required. If a man is borne on the roll of the first or second class of the Army Reserve, his chance of employment is lessened; for, since every petty émeute abroad has involved calling up the second line of defence-as much as though we were menaced with grave refrain from engaging men who at national danger-employers naturally any moment are liable to be withdrawn from positions of more or less trust and importance."

The following extract is taken from a pamphlet written in 1885, entitled "Short Service and the Employment of Reserve Soldiers": 2

"Happening the other day to be in the east of London, and having been told that there were in the neighbourhood a large number of Army Reserve men out of work, I thought that an hour or two could not be better or more advantageously spent than in interviewing some of these men, with a view to ascertaining from their point of view the causes which militate against their chances of obtaining employment. I was met at the outset by what at first appeared to be a formidable difficulty. The district might, as I had been assured, be flooded with men of the class to which

I refer, but how was I to find them? The idea struck me, to call in the assistance of that always useful and reliable body, the police.

Accordingly I proceeded to the nearest police station, and was fortunate in coming across a most obliging superintendent, who entered at once into the spirit of my enterprise -if such I may call it-and put me in the way of obtaining all the information I required.

"His first step was to send for an ex-cavalry man, the possessor of the Afghan medal with three clasps, now a constable in the force. With him I started on my rambles. My guide was a bright and intelligent fellow, who had left the army as a corporal. I felt myself to be particularly fortunate, for I had chanced to hit upon the very man I wanted to enable me to acquire the knowledge of which I stood in need.

"I interrogated my guide—a guide I certainly considered him, as he led me through a maze of streets and alleys literally reeking with dirt and filth.

"Question those men, sir,' my guide observed as we neared a magnificently embellished gin-palace; 'you will hear what they have to say. Four or five of them are Reserve men, and will, I think, enlighten you as to the consequences to them of military service.'

"I acted on the suggestion.

"The replies to my interrogations were in all instances to the same

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effect: 'I am willing enough to work, sir, only I cannot get anything to do.' 'But why?' I asked; 'surely there are any number of openings.' 'Well, yes, to be sure; but they

will not have anything to do with Army Reserve men in these parts. They say that they cannot depend upon them, as they may be called up at a busy time to join the colours, and there would be a difficulty in filling their places.' I addressed other men, and received the same answer to all my inquiries. The deferred pay had been spent, and the men, having no trade to fall back upon, had to get along as best they could, doing an odd job here and another there."

Plenty of other testimony, both written and oral, of the same kind might be adduced in corroboration of these facts, but the writer must here content himself with mentioning that in the summer of 1887 he sent down an intelligent sergeant of the commissionaires to the east end of London, with instructions to make full inquiries about the general condition of the Reserve men he might find there. The sergeant was thus occupied for two or three days, and his report fully corroborated the accounts just quoted.1

In reply to all this it will doubtless be answered that neither the Government nor the War Office can create appointments for these men. This is true enough; but it needs only a superficial acquaintance with the subject to see that very much might, in the course of the last ten or twelve years, have been effected, if only the matter had been taken up in

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earnest and worked upon some definite plan. Above all, a most necessary and useful example would have been set; and if the War Office would give some practical proofs of its interest and confidence in Reserve men (many of whom are fully deserving of it), by employing them whenever and wherever there is a chance of doing so, doubtless other Government departments, and the public generally, would in time follow suit. Until, however, this example is set, it is quite useless to hope that any great progress towards providing Reservists with employment and work will ever be made.

It is now some five or six years ago since the National Association for the Employment of Reserve and Discharged Soldiers was, by the energy of many officers and other gentlemen, set on foot, with the express object of trying to remedy, if possible, the deplorable condition of the great majority of Reserve men. Every well-wisher of the army must regret that the War Minister, when appealed to for assistance and pecuniary support by the Association, did not see his way (though he must have had a full knowledge of all the circumstances of the case, and of the discredit and unpopularity of the service which the condition of the Reservists generally entailed) to give it any hearty and effective co-operation and aid. All that could be obtained from the Department in aid of the all-important objects of this Association was a miserable grant of £200 a-year! Taking the Reserve at 59,000 men, this sum is equal to an annual grant of considerably less than a penny a man!

The unwillingness of employers of labour to take Reservists into their service has sometimes led to

their being charged with a want of public spirit and patriotism on this account. To such accusations as these the reply of employers and the public in general is practically much to the following effect, and as matters stand at present is quite unanswerable, viz. :

Firstly, if you wish us to take Reservists as willingly as we engage other suitable men into our employ, let us have some guarantee that we shall not be deprived of their services on the outbreak of the first little war which may

occur.

'Secondly, if you really wish that Reservists should, wherever it is possible, be employed, give us a proof of your interest and confidence in them by first employing them yourselves in all available posts (of which, as we are well aware, you could, if you chose, have a very considerable number at your disposal) for which they are suitable.

"Whilst the Government, as represented by the War Office, persistently declines to trouble itself in any way about these men, who are their own servants, and who therefore have a special claim upon the State, why should we be expected to run the risk of loss and inconvenience for them?" The truth of these arguments it is hard to gainsay.

As an example of what might have been effected in this direction if ever the matter had seriously been taken in hand, and if the Government was really anxious to make use of the means at its command, I will cite the case of two large Government establishments (and I select them because they are both under the entire control of the War Office)-viz., the Government factories at Woolwich and Enfield. A parliament