to "popularize" recruiting was soon found to entail serious
evils. Competition for recruits in an already well-combed field became
very keen. The new political colonels realized that their reputations
were at stake, and in the effort to fill up their battalions various
undignified and regrettable expedients were employed. Cabarets,
bean-counting contests, lotteries and callithumpian methods generally
marked a period in Canada's recruiting history not pleasant to review,
and which brought discredit upon the entire voluntary enlistment system
as a permanent method of filling up armies.

TRAINING SERIOUSLY DELAYED.

Besides the moral influence of such schemes to get men in khaki, the
recruiting efforts of the political colonels had a serious effect in
delaying the training of new men. With their personal reputations as
organizers involved, the commanding officers were reluctant to admit
inability to fill up the ranks of their units, and repeatedly pleaded
for more time.

For months partly recruited battalions made little or no progress with
their training, while the officers devised new recruiting "stunts" and
while men were being sought in the highways and byways.

The situation was complicated by allowing a number of infantry
battalions to recruit in the same area at the same time, with the result
that the new men came in driblets, valuable time was lost and much money
wasted. In some cases it has taken well over a year from the date when
they were authorized before battalions were dispatched oversea--due very
largely to ineffective recruiting methods. Battalions were allowed to
continue the heart-breaking quest for recruits long after they should
have been amalgamated and sent to England. Such amalgamations came
ultimately, battalions retaining their identity when leaving Canada only
when 600 or more strong.

The high cost of recruits was a direct consequence of competition among
battalions recruiting independently in the same territory at the same
time. The government allowance was not adequate to maintain the pace and
had to be supplemented by private funds.

There was in Toronto a certain group of fifty recruits referred to as
the "$10,000 squad," because it is estimated that the cost of recruiting
them averaged nearly $200 each, the money coming from private funds of
officers and their friends. Perhaps the estimate involves some
exaggeration, but many units added to their ranks only at a cost of $50
or more