1915-05-05ff

“Time was when recruiting was chiefly by the pomp of military parades and appeals to the belligerent spirit so natural to youth. War is now far too for that

Hamilton Spectator.    May 5, 1915.

The war which was surely to be over by Christmas was not still in progress in May, and was getting worse daily.

On May 5, 1915, the Spectator carried an editorial which, at length, discussed the state of the war and the challenge involved in recruiting more and more soldiers as the dreadful number of wounded, missing or dead soldiers were being posted in every issue of the newspaper:

“The young man who enlists today can do so only from the profoundest of motives. He knows the grind he must endure at the training camp, and the ordeal he must face on the battlefield. He counts the cost , weighs the considerations pro and con, and then goes forward with the ardor of pure patriotism.”¹

¹ “Recruiting.”

Hamilton Spectator.   May 5, 1915.

The editorial went on to refer to a recent speech on recruiting made by Lieutenant-Colonel McLaren:

“There were many, he said, who could not respond to the call for recruits, because they were not of the requisite age; because, while medically fit for their ordinary work, they were not sufficiently robust for a soldier’s life; because they were held by imperative home ties, or because they were engaged in occupations wherein they were serving their country as truly as if at the front. No one should judge another, and say he ought to enlist. The matter is one that every man must settle for himself, in the light of his own conscience

“But if a man is in all respects suitable, and so circumstanced that he could enlist without injustice to others, he ought to know that his country needs him and he ought to give the question of duty the most serious consideration.

“By withdrawing men from their ordinary employment, young men may leave vacancies which can be filled by others ineligible for military life, and thus the pressure of unemployment may be lessened.”¹

Another speaker, Lieutenant-Colonel Ashton, who was leading soldiers locally for deployment to the front as part of the third contingent, also had recently made a powerful speech on the need for increased recruiting:

“He simply stated the manner in which recent events in Flanders had virtually broken up his command and compelled him to begin the work of rebuilding it.

“He made no complaint yet, as a matter of fact, he was now obliged to send away the very cream of his battalion, who would go directly to Shorncliffe and thence to France to help fill the gap produced by the battle of Langemarck.”¹

The Spectator ended its editorial on recruiting by by expressing the hope that the speeches would “give a very perceptible impetus to the response of this community to the resounding trumpet call to arms.”¹