Ogden Sun | 1905-08-08 | Page 4 | Conscription in England

conscription IN ENGLAND even the military prestige of lord roberts will probably fall to convince the british nation that conscription Is the only alternative to destruction lord roberts Is a strong man in the field but it Is more than suspected that he falls an easy victim to the wiles odthe military party who regards the army life as the only one worth living and the manhood of tb nation as specially designed by providence for purposes of destruction lord roberta says that the english people have short memories that they pet the soldier during war time land forget him when peace la declared that Is a very common failing but english memory is probably good enough to recall that the disasters of the boer war due far more to tap crass stupidity of officers than to the decadence 0 men before public opinion assents to conscription it may ask tor some guarantee that the pro posed change will do more than hand over a still larger number of men to the destructive leadership of r pe tents i 1 outsiders always see most of the game and outsiders will generally agree that england would do well to content herself with a small army and to concentrate her efforts upon her navy compared with continental armies hers can never be a big one it can of course be good and to make it good there is con census of opinion that a better class should be attracted by better pay and that officers should be trained in barag well as in lawn tennis it would still further conduce to their efficiency if officers were required to live upon their pay and it important positions were filled in order of merit and not in obedience to a preponderance of high placed and feminine influence