VOLUNTEERS 



6115 



VOLUNTEERS OF AMERICA 



army had a paper strength of 175,000, and the 

 organized militia, or national guard, of 450,000. 

 Such an army was, of course, hopelessly inade- 

 quate. President Wilson, however, issued no 

 general call for volunteers at this crisis, for the 

 War Department officials were convinced that 

 the United States could raise the necessary 

 army quickly and justly only by systematic 

 selection of men of fighting age. At the same 

 time, recruits for the regular army, the navy, 

 tin- marine corps and special branches of the 

 service were sought, and in November, 1917, 

 the War Office announced that 1,400,000 of the 

 men in the service at that time had voluntarily 

 enlisted. 



In England the volunteer movement had 

 received more permanent features than in the 

 United States. Previous to the South- African 

 War volunteers had not been looked upon as a 

 valuable military asset, but events of the war 

 caused a complete change of opinion. Volun- 

 regiments were reorganized and received 

 equipment similar to that issued to the regular 

 and militia battalions of the district to which 

 belonged. The result proved so success- 

 ful that tin- volunteer force enrolled for terri- 

 torial defense apart from militia numbered over 

 251,000 men in 1914. 



The outbreak of the great war found the na- 

 tion unprepared from a military standpoint, 

 but even at this supreme crisis an attempt was 

 made to face the emergency through a system 

 of volunteer recruiting, because of the bitter 

 hostility of the English laboring classes to con- 

 r-rnption. For nearly two years the volunteer 

 system was employed, and in May, 1916, when 

 the Military Conscription Act was passed, it 

 was announced that there had been 5,041,000 

 voluntary enlistments in Great Britain since the 

 beginning of the war. 



In the various parts of Britain's far-Sung 

 colonial empire the loyalty of British subjects 

 to the mother country was demonstrated over 

 and over again. From the outbreak of the 

 >11 of 1917, when Canada adopted 

 conscription, tin Dominion, with a popula- 

 tion of about 7,000,000, gave 500,000 of her 

 sons to the allied cause; that is, one for each 

 fourteen inhabitants. Australia, New Zealand, 

 South Africa and India likewise responded gen- 

 erously with volunteers, and South Africa not 

 only sent a force overseas but raised an army 

 to assist in the conquest of the German colonies 

 in Africa. On the fighting froiv .pe a 



M.MH -r of the South Pacific army was called an 

 ! made up of the initial letters of 



the words Australian and New Zealand Army 

 Corps. Ireland, which was not included in the 

 British conscription bill, responded generously 

 to the allied cause, and sent thousands of volun- 

 teers to the front. 



Probably the most serious objection to the 

 volunteer system is that it takes the fi: 

 men, who must make sacrifices for the weak, 

 the cowardly and the selfish. In spite of tin 

 inspirational value of volunteering, it is gen- 

 erally agreed that the systematic selection of 

 men of military age is the just and democratic 

 plan for a nation at war. See CONSCRIPT i 

 WAR OF THE NATIONS. B.M.W. 



Consult Huidekoper's The Military Unpre- 

 paredncss of the United States. 



VOLUNTEERS OF AMERICA, a religious 

 body which came into existence as a result of 

 a division in the Salvation Army and at tin- 

 request of leading American citizens. In 1896 

 Ballington Booth, head of the Salvation Army 

 in America, became opposed to his father. Wil- 

 liam Booth, the founder of the older organiza- 

 tion, whose methods he felt were not suited 

 to the work in America. With his wife, Maud 

 Ballington Booth, he established the new asso- 

 ciation, introducing changes which American- 

 ized the movement, but adhering to the mum 

 purpose of the organization built up by his 

 father. It is based on a semimilitary plan, 

 with the United States army as its model, and 

 all of its officers bear military titles; but the 

 system of government is democratic. Thus the 

 '"soldiers" elect the commander-in-chirf, who is 

 also president of the Grand Field Council. 

 Practically every city of considerable size in 

 the United States has a branch of the Volun- 

 teers of America. 



The Volunteers maintain benevolent institu- 

 tions of various sorts, where destitute men or 

 women may find lodging and food. Worthiness 

 in the applicants is not insisted upon, for tin 

 aim is to gain a hold even on the most un- 

 worthy by chanty nivon and kindness shown. 

 Whore the applicant is able, he is allowed to 

 work for what is given him. In a single year 

 i 150,000 lodgings and more than 529,000 

 meals have been given to the needy, while the 

 number for which some return is made is 

 greater. A prison league is maintained. \\ 



;n over thirty state pcnitrnti.v 

 and with what it calls "Hope Hulls" the ore 

 zation attempts to keep in touch with those 

 who le i\-o the prisons and seek again the con- 

 fidence of society. There is also a fresh 

 )>r inch, which provides outings for women and 



