Leading Articles in the Reviews. 



195 



Tin: MILITARY TRAIXINCx OF 

 LADS. 



The .Midsummer issue of The Nation in Amu; 

 contains a special contribution on compulsory cadet 

 training in Jersey. As the author remarks, " Probably 

 few people are aware that this system has been in 

 vogue for over a century in a British community and 

 on British soil within twelve hours' journey of London. 

 Every male inhabitant of the island is subject to 

 Militia service between the ages of sixteen and forty- 

 five. The ser\'ice is divided into three categories : 

 (a) preparatory, (A) active, (c) reser\'e. The prepara- 

 tory training is for youths, and lasts from the age of 

 si.xteen to the age of twenty, when the youth is 

 incorporated into the ranks of a regiment, battery, or 

 company. In the month of January each year all 

 boys who ha\-e reached the age of sixteen since the 

 previous January are called upon to enrol themselves 

 in the Militia. Failure to do so involves a fine of £1, 

 with, of course, immediate enrolment. In February 

 the boys commence their drills at the arsenals of their 

 respective districts. 



'• I'he island is divided into three districts, each 

 of which furnishes an infantry battalion. The 

 headquarters and stores in each district are called 

 arsenals, and attached to them arc spacious drill 

 grounds. The boys just enrolled are known as ' first 

 year boys,' and are put into a beginners' squad. 

 rhey attend drill for an hour and a half on two 

 mornings a week, and receive instruction from the 

 Militia permanent staff in squad drill and physical 

 exercises until they have completed forty drills. In 

 the following February they come up again for another 

 forty drills as ' second year boys,' and the training 

 now extends to company drill, the use of the rifle, 

 and practice on a miniature range with the aiming 

 tube. 



" .\ 'first' year boy' who shows particular aptitude 

 i generally promoted to the second year squad after a 

 few drills, and it not unfrcquently happens that a boy 

 %vill win one of the spoons (drill prizes) in his first year. 

 The ' third year boy ' has a full training programme. 

 He is usually so far proficient that his forty drills are 

 not exacted in full, but he has a thorough musketry 

 training, finishing up with a full range course of fifteen 

 practices, the la-.t fi\c of which (classification 

 practices) are exactly the same as the classification 

 practiies fired by recruits of the regular Army. If 

 he passes his musketry test he is transferred to the 

 active list . . . receives his uniform, attending the 

 camp training of his unit in the same year. At this 

 .stage the jersey .Militia recruits will easily bear com- 

 parison with those of the .Special Reserve, and are 

 incomparably belter trained than the average Terri- 

 torial recruit. Boys are often chosen (or the artil- 

 lery, and commence gun drill, etc., at the end of 

 their first or second veur." 



WAR EXPENDITURE AND COST 

 OF LIVING. 



In the July number of the Friedenswarte is published 

 an address of .Mr. W. Bourke Cockran on the subject of 

 the Expenditure on Armaments and the increased 

 Cost of Li\ing. 



C.\STINC SEED INTO THE SEA. 



Mr. Cockran expresses the opinion that the constant 

 rise of prices is due to the rivalry among the Powers 

 to acquire the most complete armaments. Every 

 penny spent on armaments is a loss to the Treasury. 

 Money disposed of in this way resembles a seed thrown 

 into the sea, whereas every penny spent on a pro- 

 ductive object resembles the seed planted in fertile 

 soil, reproducing itself a hundredfold. A battleship 

 produces nothing, and it is least harmful when it is 

 absolutely idle. It can only be effective when it is 

 destroying. Battleships, fortifications, guns — all war 

 material is a dead burden, except when utilised — to 

 destroy life and property. To-day the cost of arma- 

 ments is to ht reckoned by the increased cost of the 

 necessities of life for cverv man, woman, and 

 child. 



:making war on the people. 



We are asked to imagine the amount spent on arma- 

 ments in the last twenty years, and to measure the 

 contribution of each country. Then we are asked to 

 assess the amount of damage which would have been 

 caused bv war. If a town is plundered, the houses burnt 

 down, the factories razed to the ground, and the fields 

 laid waste, and if there is a heavy indemnity to pay, 

 the armaments, at any rate, would have been for once 

 brought to an end. But this loss could at least be 

 gradually made good again, whereas the outlay on 

 armaments has neither end nor limit, nor is there any 

 hope of a reduction ; and the peace which is supposed 

 to be assured by them is an armed peace — for war, for 

 a continuous destructive war without end, not a war 

 between States, but a war waged by each State on its 

 own people by imposing burdens, not on an enemy in 

 arms, but on the citizens, whose welfare should be its 

 chief care. 



In conclusion. Mr. Cockran advocates some court of 

 arbitration, composed of representatues of all nations, 

 invited in the name of justice. \\ ith the success of 

 such an undertaking all problems which disturb 

 humanity would be solved, and the peace, which is 

 established on the foundation of justice, would be 

 eternal and unchangeable. 



" T(;N()RANCE. conceit, arrogance - thee summarise 

 the Englishman's character as exhibited on his travels 

 abroad. We behave as cads, hypocrites, fools. We 

 display all the vulgar qualities that we despise in 

 the mob."— Cuari.es Crknvili.e. in the OxfcrA and 

 t'liiiibridj^c Rcviciv. 



