"COMBING OUT" BRITAIN.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 12081, 9 August 1917, Page 7

"COMBING OUT" BRITAIN.

TZ3 TIGHTENING OF maiPTEQK

CONDITIONS.

CONSCIENTIOUS OBJECTC-.a: HAVE A HARD TlM£

(By JUDSON C. VvELLIVER, 1* New York " Sun. ) LONDON, May 23,-AYith 5.000,000 BKTi renortpd n oV serving in we imutarv establishment, an", hah .-• Sillioa in the Navy, Groa- Britain i> already casting about icr more -e----aoip-ce? ci man power. Never v/fl'i the man- or v/or so voracious in us demands for cannon roa(:f'. demanded iliff hf h:> prcvi.loc! hy dvnv 1 with 50-0,000 more' men, oval tuo.> will bo forthcoming. 'i" he mi''*ar7 authorities have i vied on mviiatum to | men from forty-one to fifty y<?.ars om to volunteer, and the result* tarns, va: h-.-o ho«i> Kstouishinely goodof thousands of mon within these r.eo limits ofiVivd their services at Vie oegiiu'n- ot the war, and v.-or;-rl-gust--when thev w:-re rejected. DcspUe.ad tb-t is herd ;tud nrinten about : nu'aor""it- is 'uluw.iw pn-bab!c iain still has as n-.ny nu-n who navel thus hr heon rejected mcr v.idimaicss to enlist as U has m,sn of rniiitnry .igo v;ho mnnaged dehberately tu ova do service. T'a;> combine out process is now in full Mvino-. Condition:- en which men jiiiiv h;> exempt -d fnnn military service p.v:- being constantly tightened- Iho Conscription Art and the. regulations thoro.;i:.'diT nro'/ide icr the, exemption of men of iTU;ir;:r\ ace who can make u proper shev. dig 'thai their services in i civil life ::ro se far indispensable that, i tr> withdraw th<:.m. for military service | would seriously interfere with business, j industry or tho production of win- r.ip- j -.dies. Nearly everything except shop-; Keeping is now listed in some fashion I as an industry and more or | lev; under Government dom.inat.ion. j Even employees in shops and offices are permitted to make tiie showing of their indi: pens-ability and thus obtain exemption. I APPEAR BEFORE TRIBUNALS. | Thy determination as to justification ' for exemption is bM't in the hands of I the locai tribunal When the military I authorities find a man who looks to | them iike the making of a- soldier he | is summoned beforc\ the Tribunal and alter a fashion is tried. He may be revH'esented hy counsel, and the War Oiiice always is. Employers very often appear, pretesting against the dratting of men whom they consider necessary to the business. In earlier stages the tribunals "were i wont, to be pretty lenient: almost, any ! sort, of a case for exemption, if strongly ; enough urged, was accepted. There i have"been more than a few instances in j which dubious influences had bs'en alI leged, and even distinct- charges of I bribery, -.u-uaiiy involving accusations j against the recruiting officers. Latterly i the tribunals have been mightily cynical and .stony-hearted toward -would-ho exemptees. livery week ma.kes it harder for a man under forty to give a- good account, of himself ex khaki. ' When it gets noised about a. neighbourhood that a particular young man has been before the tribunal and secured an exemption, either temporary or permanent, the measure of his essentialness to his civilian indu.-try pretty promptly becomes also the measure of his non-essentiolffi-ss to the young women of that- locality. Thai, particular young man suddenly discovers that bright, eyes are averted as he passes, and skirts flip ' contemptuously in thr-i other direction. The girls whose brothers are. at the. front or in the training camps or in the hospitals . • . either at homo or in France, or sleeping the !a.st sleep under the, white crosses in France, don't, care much for the shiik'ts. 1 asked a young woman hew lh e girls of her S''t treated the e>:c:np:ces. "I don't know aiiv e.wnip,ees," she replied acidly. ''Lite-rally or socially," I persisted. "Roth." was the reply. "I used to know some men who are now shirkers: whenever one of them hapr.ens mv I do what I can in niv f chic fashion to make him understand t' Tam sorrv I ever knew him. He is apt not- to happen in my'vicinity again."' MANY QUAKERS NOW. The coiiseic-iuLus objectors have about the hardest- time.. Nobody ever suspected there were so iivmy m tiiis country as hare turned up in j the last taree years. Everybody has the uuuose p'spcci for Quakers of estahi lished standing and known sincerity. I But the Quaker for exemption only has I a. hard row to hoe; literally, not figuratively. For they have a pleasant way ol permitting the ''C. O." to be exempted from military service to be conscripted for only the most disagreeable sorts of civil occupation. Batches of them are kept in camps undi-r a. loose sort of espionage and v, or''ed m unrip at aerindhire,"breaking reck, building roads and similar light tasks. If the boss of one of these gangs falls under the susnieion of being lenient, if the hours are not amply long and the service made rigorous, some enterprising newspaper reporter happens along and writes a piece about it, which promptly arouses the neighbourhood to an indignation that, very .soon makes the conscientious objectors sorrv they had either consciences or objections. And woe betide the man with a name that sounds Teutonic coupled with a conscientious objection ! Take the case of how Gotf got his. 'For reasons not utterly inscrutable Gott wa.s persist- j ently suspected of the Teutonic taint. The. family produced records to show i that they were really Engh'sh and had : been for two or thrrp generations; but; they were all conscientious objectors. It was pointed out that Gott was a fine, thrifty specimen of ideal military age and nhysioue. Also, counsel was unkind enoueh to suggest the anomaly of prcHiininp- that conscience ever associated itself with such a name. Anyhow, the. Magistrate got the point, and Gott got a sentence to crack rock for ten hours a day during the continuance of the war. Rut to get hack to the combing outi procedure by which Genera] Robertson's half million men are being raised r.nd it is hoped that still another million will bo enrolled. Two new groups for tho voluntary attestation of men over the present military age of forty have been opened up. The first includes men, whether single or married, between forty and forty-five: the second, for either single or married men, between forty-five and fifty. The country has been plastered with posters appealing to men in these groups to come forward and enrol. For the present at least no compulsion will he resorted to j in enlisting men for these classes, i though it is whispered that it may be necessary later. The purpose of this voluntary recruiting of the oldsters is to replace younger men wdio are behind the lines in France and will thus be released for service at the front. A considerable proportion of them will also be trained for service in the home defence. For these various employments they will b" assigned according to their medical classification. Tho latest census indicates that there are in Encland, Wales, Scotland and Ireland nearly 2,5'00.000 men wjtlim ' these age limits. The proportion of rejection "among them for physical reasons is expected' to be considerably _ larger than among younger men. possibly as high ns 50 per cent.