ECHOES OF THE WAR

Evening Post, Volume XC, Issue 42, 18 August 1915, Page 10

ECHOES OF THE WAR

NEWS FROM M. MAX. (mnu oun own corjibbfondint.) LONDON, 9th July. M. Max, the heroic Burgomaster of Brussels, is confined in the fortress of Glatz. A letter from him has' just been received at Havre which shows that he maintains both his heroism and his humour. "There is no merit," he writes, "in supporting the fate I bear stoically. I only see in my patience the application of the natural law by which all beings adapt themselves to the conditions by circumstances. It is now 240 days since I have been a prisoner, and captivity has become for me a normal state. The sufferings I felt during the first weeks following my arrest grow less and less. I remember once reading of a Duke of Croy, who was assassinated three centuries ago at Brussels. The accused man, who was convicted, was cast into the prison of Vilverde. After he had been imprisoned for thirty years his innocence was established and he was set at liberty. But he asked a favour that he might not be released, and the Government of the time generously granted it. Who shall say that it will not come to pass one day at some sitting of the Communal Council that I shall not look back with regret upon the silent dungeon-cell of Glatz?" HEALTH OF THE SOLDIERS. The Research Defence Society held its annualjineeting recently, when Sir William Osier said that there should have been only 1000 cases of typhoid fever during th"c period of the war among the forces of this Empire was something which only those who understood the history of typhoid in other ways could appreciate. It was a matter of much satisfaction that at least 60 per cent, of the wounded returned to the fight. We were not going to have the tragedy of/tlie South African War or the Wars, or of the Civil War in South America, with their parallel columns of figures showing the numbers of killed and wounded and the thousands of deaths from disease. We are going for the first time to have a war in which the bullet would be accountable for the larger number of deaths, and not disease. A GERMAN CONFESSION. An important member of the staff of the Dresden Bank is reported to have said : "Even if we win we are ruined. The money which is in circulation is fictitious. I do not mean that the Reichsbank paper money is valueless. But how are you to determine this value ? On what basis can you fix it? In England gold circulates; in France it is hidden away by the private citizen. Here in Germany it is the Government wliich has taken possession of it. Nilly-willy, it had to be given up. Our stratagems to hide our real financial situation are very childish. In March the ioan was covered. Another is spoken of. It will be covered, too, of course. But how ? The Darlehnskassen (loan banks) advance up to 90 per cent, on each subscription. If, therefore, the public has subscribed seven millifirds, it will in reality only have contributed 700 millions (marks). It has no more gold. These 700 millions will be paper-notes issued by the Reichsbank, and whose value is only maintained abroad by the exportation of our gold. How long shall we be able to keep up that game? The munitions question is, I grant, important, but less so than the gold question." OUR RESERVES OF MEN. Under this heading a recruiting medical officer writes to 'ilia Times in connection with the problem of recruiting married or single men, and quotes statistics from a certain district. He says : "The area is urban in character. ' Rolls of Honour' have been carefully kept and an accurate list has been prepared of the men holding back; 62 per cent, of the available men are serving with the Colours, 38 per cent, are holding back. Of those holding back 24 per cent, are between the ages of 19 and 25; 26 per cent, between 26 and 30; 27 per cent, between 31 and 35; 23 per cent, between 36 and 40. Of these 56 per cent, are married, 43 per cent, single, and 1 per cent, widowers. The following shows the percentage of married and single at the stated age periods :—l9-25,: —19-25, married 6.3 per cent., single 23 per cent.; 26-30, married 12.5 per cent., single 6.6 per cent.; 31-35, married 20 per cent., single 8.2 per ca>nt.; 36-40, married 18.4 per cent, single 5 per cent.; total, 100 per cent. Thus 30 per cent, of the whole might be described as young unmarried shirkers. And recruiting is practically at a standstill in the district." WAITING TO BE FETCHED. This medical officer continues :—": —" It has been stated that to obtain our first 2,000,000 men, 3,000,000 were medically examined and 1,000,000 rejected on various grounds of unfitness. Which is possible, but most likely exaggerated. What available men have we? Roughly, there ar© 22,500,000 males of all ages in the United Kingdom, of whom 7,750,000 are of service age. If from these the onethird stated to be unfit for service be deducted we are left with 5,170,000 physically fit for service. But of these 5,170,000 men, come 10 per cent, will be released from service, of necessity, for more essential work at home, leaving, roughly, 4,600,000. Granting that we have obtained 3,000,000 men, we have a possible 1,600,000 available to draw upon for fignting purposes. In other words, if we only maintain our present strength, we have existing at present four years' supplies of men to renew wastage, supposing they all enlist and are trained. On my figures we require to enlist them at the rate of 35,000 a month. The need for compulsory service is immediate. Men take six months to train, at least. The men who are left are, in their own words, not going to enlist until they are fetched. They will join when they are wanted, but no amount of circularisation or word of mouth persuasion will make them realise that they are wanted and wanted now. lam no advocate of needless compulsion, but I have been engaged on recruiting work since the start and have been driven to my present conviction."