of pounds of public money were squandered in
advertisement and appeal, and a chaos of indiscriminate enlistment was
inaugurated. Again, with what results? With these results: First, that
myriads of middle-aged men with families have been taken while unmarried
slackers have been left; secondly, that invaluable war-workers have been
drawn from necessary tasks while useless wastrels have remained at
large; thirdly, that the rate of recruiting has been spasmodic and
wholly incalculable, that our armies have never been quite strong enough
for the successive operations assigned to them, and that consequently a
vast, needless, and largely fruitless sacrifice of the very cream of our
nation's manhood has taken place. To the idol of voluntarism a veritable
holocaust of victims has been offered up.

IV. THE PRESENT SITUATION

The voluntary principle, after seventeen months of inconceivably
destructive war, still nominally holds the field.[40] Our sovereign
politicians have up to the present remained verbally true to it; but at
what a price! They have indefinitely postponed victory; they have
allowed the sphere of operations to be immensely enlarged; they have
been compelled through sheer military feebleness to witness neutral
nations being drawn on to the side of the enemy; they have been unable
to strike a decisive blow anywhere. Thus the war drags on inconclusively
at a cost of L5,000,000 and 2,000 casualties every day. But the
voluntary principle has been respected and vindicated! Has it? True it
is that there has been a magnificent response to the Government's
appeals. The patriotism and devotion of one half of the nation have
effectively enabled the other half to evade its duty. But the time has
again come when the demand for more men is imperative. Voluntarism is
making its last efforts. Its devotees in their desperate endeavours to
prevent its formal abandonment are eliminating from it every element of
free will, and are introducing every device of veiled compulsion.
Canvassers and recruiting-sergeants have brought immense pressure to
bear upon every eligible man, under threats that unless he "volunteers"
he will shortly be fetched, and fetched on less favourable terms than
those now offered. Moreover, all sorts of other kinds of pressure are
added. The papers are full of instances. For example, the Foreign Office
is refusing passports to men of military age; the great shipping lines
are declining to take eligibl