These Degenerate Days. 



of five men effective for the purposes of either 

 peace or war ? 



" We want the truth. 



" If by any investigation, we could ascertain 

 the true meaning of those figures, the five and 

 the two, which I have given, it may be that we 

 should be able to achieve a real step towards 

 the securing of national health and thereby to 

 the maintaining of a virile race able to hold for 

 us, and to hand down to our children's children, 

 the precious heirloom which has been handed 

 down to us by virile forefathers." 



I have quoted largely from this article because 

 I think it is all of great importance. It reveals a 

 state of affairs which is still quite unsuspected by 

 many. Coming from such an authority it carries 

 all the more weight, as it is obvious that it 

 would not be to the writer's interest or advan- 

 tage to disparage the condition of the men who 

 go to swell the ranks of the Army. 



" We want the truth." 



The trouble is that people are not always 

 ready to acknowledge the truth when it is given 

 them. The truth is easy to get in most cases, 

 and this is as simple as most. 



Since the publication of Sir Frederick Maurice's 

 article, I have heard it stated from a public plat- 

 form, by a man of some authority, that out of 

 10,000 youths who presented themselves for 

 enlistment in Manchester, only 3,000 were 

 accepted, and of the 3,000 accepted 2,000 were 

 weeded out as being medically unfit. This 

 shows us that only one in ten of those likely to 



$2 15 



