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No 
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2) 
LETTERS TO-THE EDITOR. 
[The Editor does not hold himself responsible for 
opinions expressed by his correspondents. Neither 
. can he undertake to return, or to correspond with 
the writers of, rejected manuscripts intended for 
this or any other part of Nature. No notice is 
taken of anonymous communications.] 
War Organisation. 
In the article ** ‘ Preparedness ’ : The American Way,” 
in Nature of November 2, the report of the Com- 
mittee of the Naval Consulting Board, therein quoted, 
is in some respects open to criticism. That report 
says :—'' Behind every man in the firing line in Europe, 
from three to five persons are employed to supply 
him with food, ammunition, and other needs.”’ For 
the third step of the programme the committee lays it 
down that skilled mechanics in all lines of produc- 
tion must be kept from enrolment in the Army. Rather 
must bankers, clerks, shopkeepers, and professional 
men be sent. The skilled workers must be badged, 
and the only restriction imposed on them by the badge 
will. be prevention of enlistment. Enrolment in the 
Industrial Reserve will be considered to carry with it 
honours equal to enrolment in the fighting forces. 
From the above it appears that the American view 
is that, of the men of military age in the nation, one 
portion should work in safety and comfort while the 
other portion should do the fighting. To the latter 
would fall all the loss of life, disablement from wounds 
and sickness, and extreme hardship; meanwhile the 
former will live as in time of peace, and enjoy equal 
honours with the fighting group. 
A scheme of preparation for war in which sacrifices 
and benefits are so unequally distributed does not 
appeal to one as being éither just or admirable, and 
I shall show that it is not in the least necessary. 
I will make the following assumptions, which are 
sufficiently accurate for the purpose of my argu- 
ment :— 
(a) I assume the best fighting age at from twenty 
to twenty-seven. 
(b) I assume four supply workers as required for 
one soldier, 
(c) Unskilled labour is necessary among the supply 
workers. 
(d) Men will be efficient as supply workers and for 
the necessary subsidiary duties certainly up to the age 
of fifty. 
(e) It is apparent that there will be at least three 
men above fighting age available for supply work for 
each man of fighting age; assume that this is so. 
Let N be the number of men between twenty and 
twenty-seven ; we cannot take all of these, for above 
that age only 3N workers are available. Let x be the 
number of men we can take; then x(1+4)=4N, 
therefore x=o0-8N. Hence if we take all men up to 
twenty-five and a half as soldiers we shall have enough 
workers to keep them supplied. Doing this, we shall 
use some skilled workers in the ranks, but skilled 
work is also required at the front, and this is now 
provided for. 
If to this proposition a clause be added whereby he 
who, either physically or mentally, is unfit to fight 
shall be held as unfit to vote, we shall have a schenie 
fair to all, which also does not. offer the glorious 
opportunities for undue influence and shirkers so 
thoroughly provided in the report. 
3 AOR. Bee 
Achalader, Blairgowrie, Perthshire. 
NO. 2456, VoL. 98] 
CAMPBELL. 
NATURE 
i 
[ NOVEMBER 23, 1916 
Farmers and Wheat. 
In your review of Messrs. Gray and Turner’s 
“Eclipse or Empire? ’’ (November 9, p. 185) the follow- 
ing passage occurs :— . 
“The third chapter, on ‘ The Slackening of Momen- — 
tum,’ shows by telling figures and statistics how 
serious has become our competition with better 
organised or more SE NRE ee nations. . . . British 
production has increased at a far less rate than that 
in Germany or in the United States. As regards 
home-grown wheat, it has fallen by 20 per cent. in the 
last thirty years in England, and increased in Germany 
by 50 per cent.” 
Turning to p. 190 in the same number, I read ;— 
“|. . Without heavy protective duties, the chemical 
industry of the finer products, including dyestuffs, 
cannot possibly be built up and firmly established in 
this country.” ' 
The first of these quoted passages seems to impute 
the fall in production of wheat to “slackening of 
momentum,’ implying indolence, or at least want 
of spirit, on the part of British farmers. But what, 
it may be asked, might have been said of their intelli- 
gence if, instead of diverting their ‘*momentum” to 
dairy farming and stock-feeding, they had persisted in 
growing wheat at a loss after it had fallen to 23s. a 
quarter? And how would it be consistent with prud- 
ence now to break up land for wheat-growing in the 
absence of any guarantee against a prospective ruinous 
fall in prices? We do not ask for the promise of 
“heavy protective duties,’ such as your correspondent 
describes as indispensable, as doubtless they are, for 
the establishment and maintenance of the finer chem- 
ical industry, but we do claim that, before investing 
heavily in wheat production, some assurance may be 
obtained against the farming industry being wrecked 
by indiscriminate freedom of imports. 
Herpert MAXWELL. | 
Monreith, 
Greek as a Specialised Study. 
As you have done me the honour of commenting 
(Narure, November 16, p. 221) upon what would 
seem to have been an abbreviated report of what I 
said at the Hellenic Society’s meeting on November 14, 
perhaps you would allow me a few lines to remove a 
misapprehension to which that report seems to have 
given rise. 
It is quite true that I deprecate the study of Greek at 
preparatory schools, as I do not think the language can 
be begun before thirteen or fourteen yeats of age with- 
out narrowing unduly the basis of general education ; 
but I did not in the least wish to suggest, nor do I 
think, that it need not be studied at publie schools. 
To abandon it there would be, in my judgment, to 
abandon the finest part of that humane training which 
has created all the great traditioas of English public 
life. 
I contended, indeed, that students of special ability 
who had been thoroughly trained in Latin could study 
Greek fruitfully during their university course if that 
course extended above four years and were wholly 
devoted to classical work. This I urged as a reason 
for allowing clever boys from municipal schools a 
free choice of the subjects which they are to study by 
the aid of municipal leaving scholarships. But I be- 
lieve it would be a national misfortune if the study 
of Greek in this country were confined to this com- 
paratively small class of students. The affection felt 
for the study by those who know what its, is so 
keen that I do not think there is much danger of this 
result, 
